Related papers: The formation and structure of iron-dominated plan…
The pathway to forming the iron-rich planet Mercury remains mysterious. Mercury's core makes up 70% of the planetary mass, which implies a significant enrichment of iron relative to silicates, while its mantle is strongly depleted in…
Differentiation in terrestrial planets is expected to include the formation of a metallic iron core. We predict the existence of terrestrial planets that have differentiated but have no metallic core--planets that are effectively a giant…
How and where the first generation of inner solar system planetesimals formed remains poorly understood. Potential formation regions are the silicate condensation line and water-snowline of the solar protoplanetary disk. Whether the…
The bulk chemical compositions of planets are uncertain, even for major elements such as Mg and Si. This is due to the fact that the samples available for study all originate from relatively shallow depths. Comparison of the stable isotope…
The composition of rocky exoplanets in the context of stars' composition provides important constraints to formation theories. In this study, we select a sample of exoplanets with mass and radius measurements with an uncertainty <25% and…
Despite the fact that the terrestrial planets formed from the protoplanetary disk, their compositions show marked departures from that of solar nebula condensates. Metallic cores fix oxygen fugacities ($f$O$_2$s) of the planets to 5…
Mercury's high uncompressed mass density suggests that the planet is largely composed of iron, either bound within metal (mainly Fe-Ni), or iron sulfide. Recent results from the MESSENGER mission to Mercury imply a low temperature history…
During the formation of terrestrial planets, volatile loss may occur through nebular processing, planetesimal differentiation, and planetary accretion. We investigate iron meteorites as an archive of volatile loss during planetesimal…
Impacts between differentiated planetesimals are ubiquitous in protoplanetary discs and may mix materials from the core, mantle, and crust of planetesimals, thus forming stony-iron meteorites. The surface composition of the asteroid (16)…
As differentiated planetesimals cool, their cores can solidify from the outside-in, as evidenced by paleomagnetic measurements and cooling rate estimates of iron meteorites. The details of outside-in solidification and fate of residual core…
Low-mass, metal-enriched stars were likely present as early as cosmic dawn. In this work, we investigate whether these stars could have hosted planets in their protoplanetary disks. If so, these would have been the first planets to form in…
Recent observations of rocky super-Earths have revealed an apparent wider distribution of Fe/Mg ratios, or core to mantle ratios, than the planets in our Solar System. This study aims to understand how much of the chemical diversity in the…
Radioisotopic ages for meteorites and their components provide constraints on the evolution of small bodies: timescales of accretion, thermal and aqueous metamorphism, differentiation, cooling and impact metamorphism. Realising that the…
We present a series of papers dedicated to modelling the accretion and differentiation of rocky planets that form by pebble accretion within the lifetime of the protoplanetary disc. In this first paper, we focus on how the accreted ice…
The exoplanet diversity has been linked to the disc environment in which they form, where the host star metallicity and the formation pathways play a crucial role. In the context of the core accretion paradigm, the initial stages of planet…
White dwarfs that have accreted planetary materials provide a powerful tool to probe the interiors and formation of exoplanets. In particular, the high Fe/Si ratio of some white dwarf pollutants suggests that they are fragments of bodies…
Evidence is now compelling that most externally-polluted white dwarfs derive their heavy atoms by accretion from asteroids - the building blocks of rocky planets. Optical and ultraviolet spectroscopy of a small sample of suitable white…
The timing of formation for the first planetesimals determines the mode of planetary accretion and their geophysical and compositional evolution. Astronomical observations of circumstellar discs and Solar System geochronology provide…
Rocky planet compositions regulate planetary evolution by affecting core sizes, mantle properties, and melting behaviours. Yet, quantitative treatments of this aspect of exoplanet studies remain generally under-explored. We attempt to…
Several lines of evidence indicate a non-chondritic composition for Bulk Earth. If Earth formed from the accretion of chondritic material, its non-chondritic composition, in particular the super-chondritic 142Nd/144Nd and low Mg/Fe ratios,…