The Encounter Hypothesis

• > Sun-Comet Encounter

  • proposed by Georges-Louis Lecterc, Comte de Buffon
  • states that a big comet collided with the sun
  • the collision broke off some parts of the sun, which then became the materials that formed the planets
• > Planetesimal Hypothesis

  • formulated by Thomas Chamberlain and Forest Ray Moulton
  • a variation of the nebular hypothesis
  • after the formation of the sun, another one passed under it, causing materials to be drawn out from both stars
• > Tidal Hypothesis

  • postulated by James Jeans
  • suggests that a passing star interacted with the primitive sun
• > Capture Theory

  • forwarded by Michael Mark Woolfson
  • this theory suggests that a passing protostar interacted with the sun