Salt agglomerating in microgravity with electrostatics demonstrates how the early Solar System may have formed.

@astro_Pettit Yep, I saw this a few years back and as I remember it’s basically electrostatic bonding. The amazing thing was that this actually provided for the first time a working theory on how the very small could grow to the point of where gravity could take over and form larger bodies.

@astro_Pettit 🎯

@astro_Pettit Gotta love zero G. It's amazing how fast that happened too.

@astro_Pettit Big implications in planetary formation.

@astro_Pettit This is incredible!

@astro_Pettit Hmm. Platstic bag a factor ? I still agree - "gravity only" is wrong and other forces are underestimated. So many contact binaries, for example.

@astro_Pettit These were NaCl crystals grown by evaporation of an aqueous salt solution. Brine fluid inclusions present. Electrostatics brought them together but assisting factors can’t be ruled out. There are papers.

@astro_Pettit What we need… what we really need, is a new space station with circa 150 metric ton sections…. Wonder how we could do that? 👍🏻

@astro_Pettit Imho, This is how I feel about the moons of gas giants. That they were exfoliated and then formed through this resistance at the edge of their gravitational influence. Rings forming moons. Then eventually maybe big enough to break loose and become a primary planet of its own.

@astro_Pettit Sometimes the moons form rings, as is theorized in Saturn’s case.