Sentences with phrase «icy materials called»

The team found that, at the high pressures expected in the moon's ocean, icy materials called clathrates could form that imprison methane molecules within a crystal structure of water ice.

Not exact matches

The other suggests they arose in a two - stage process called core accretion, in which bits of material smashed and fused together to form bigger rocky, icy bodies.

Astronomers believe this region, called the Oort cloud, contains a vast collection of icy debris left over from material that came together to form the sun, Earth, and the other major planets 4.6 billion years ago.

Like a cosmic lava lamp, a large section of Pluto's icy surface is renewed by a process called convection that replace older ices with fresher material.