Solar System Debris
 
 
Formation of the rocky planets See also
View from the surface of a protoplanet in formation
Close up formation of a terrestrial planet
Formation of the rocky planets
Fiery Birth (2006)  An illustration showing a primitive terrestrial planet, more properly called a protoplanet, in the process of formation. The planet grows as its gravity sucks in more and more rocky debris. The whole process takes hundreds of millions of years.