A suborbital experiment indicates that centimetre-sized clusters of tribocharged submillimetre grains resist erosion by individual grains with collision speeds up to around 0.5 m s–1. The stability of these charged clusters allows them to grow larger than uncharged clusters, enabling the formation of planetesimals in protoplanetary disks.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 /Â 30Â days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Drazkowska, J., et al. Planet formation in the era of ALMA and Kepler: from pebbles to exoplanets. In Protostars and Planets VII, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series (eds Inutsuka, S.-i. et al.) 717 (Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2023). A review article outlining the different phases of planet formation from pebble size onward.
Carrera, D. & Simon, J. B. The streaming instability cannot form planetesimals from millimeter-sized grains in pressure bumps. Astrophys. J. Lett. 933, L10 (2022). This article shows that sand-sized particles in pressure bumps are too small to be concentrated and collapse into planetesimals.
Birnstiel, T. Dust growth and evolution of particles in protoplanetary disks. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 62, 157–202 (2024). A review article that presents views on the evolution of dust to planetesimals.
Wurm, G. & Teiser, J. Understanding planet formation using microgravity experiments. Nat. Rev. Phys. 3, 405–421 (2021). A review article describing microgravity experiments to study planetesimal formation.
Desch, S. J. & Cuzzi, J. N. The generation of lightning in the solar nebula. Icarus 143, 87–105 (2000). This article demonstrates that tribocharging can trigger lightning in protoplanetary disks.
Lacks, D. J. & Shinbrot, T. Long-standing and unresolved issues in triboelectric charging. Nat. Rev. Chem. 3, 465–476 (2019). A review article that outlines key questions for tribocharging research.
Becker, T. et al. Tribocharged solids in protoplanetary disks: internal and external discharge time-scales. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 533, 413–422 (2024). This article shows that charge can persist on grains long enough for pebbles to form.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This is a summary of: Teiser, J. et al. The growth of super-large pre-planetary pebbles to an impact erosion limit. Nat. Astron. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02470-x (2025).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Charged particles grow to stable planetesimal progenitors. Nat Astron 9, 483–484 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02471-w
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02471-w
