nebular hypothesis

A hypothesis concerning the formation of stars and planets, and therefore the origin of the solar system, according to which a rotating nebula underwent gravitational collapse into a star with an accretion disk, from which planets condensed or formed by coagulation of dust particles into increasingly larger bodies.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

nebular hypothesis

(Astronomy) the theory that the solar system evolved from the gravitational collapse of nebular matter

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

neb′ular hypoth′esis

the theory that the solar system evolved from a mass of nebular matter.

[1830–40]

neb·u·lar hypothesis

(nĕb′yə-lər)

An explanation of the origin of the solar system according to which a rotating nebula cooled and contracted, flattening into a disk shape with a central bulge. The matter in the disk condensed into the planets, their moons, asteroids, and comets, while the great mass at the center became the sun.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

nebular hypothesis - (cosmology) the theory that the solar system evolved from a hot gaseous nebula

scientific theory - a theory that explains scientific observations; "scientific theories must be falsifiable"

cosmogeny, cosmogony, cosmology - the branch of astrophysics that studies the origin and evolution and structure of the universe

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

It must be, if the nebular hypothesis has any truth, older than our world; and long before this earth ceased to be molten, life upon its surface must have begun its course.

View in context

I had about deduced from certain astronomic phenomena I have had under minute observation during the past several tropic nights an entirely new nebular hypothesis which will unquestionably startle the scientific world.

View in context

"Bryan was particularly vexed by the several theories of Creation and, above all, by the nebular hypothesis, which assumed that matter and force existed and that when the latter acted upon the former, the universe was created," Koenig observed.

Darrow in Dayton? Ninety-one years after the famous 'Monkey Trial,' Clarence Darrow may be returning to Rhea County, Tenn

This theory, known as the nebular hypothesis, unfortunately had to be discarded.

January 1941: solar system origin

Laplace's nebular hypothesis [22, 23] was often proposed as a starting point for stellar formation in the 19th century.

A thermodynamic history of the solar constitution--I: the journey to a gaseous sun

(Copernicus gestures in an impatient, get-to-the-point manner) In my Exposition du systeme du monde, my nebular hypothesis is articulated.

The cosmos corner