Protoplanet
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An astronomical object, approximately the size of the Moon, formed from the mutual gravitational attraction of planetesimals; they are thought to collide with each other and slowly form planets
"Tyrix, one of the largest objects in Thal's asteroid belt, is a metallic asteroid with an iron-nickel core under a rocky olivine mantle. It is possibly a remnant protoplanet prevented from forming into anything bigger by gravitational disturbances from Xerceo."
Example
More examples"Tyrix, one of the largest objects in Thal's asteroid belt, is a metallic asteroid with an iron-nickel core under a rocky olivine mantle. It is possibly a remnant protoplanet prevented from forming into anything bigger by gravitational disturbances from Xerceo."
Etymology
From proto- + planet.
More for "protoplanet"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.