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Planetary science

Building a planet in record time

Nature volume 473, pages 460–461 (2011)Cite this article

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It seems that Mars had grown to near its present size by 2 million to 4 million years after the Solar System began to form. Such rapid growth explains why the planet is much smaller than Earth and Venus. See Letter p.489

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Figure 1: Planetary accretion.

TAKE 27/SPL

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  1. Alan Brandon is in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.,

    Alan Brandon

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  1. Alan Brandon
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Correspondence to Alan Brandon.

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Brandon, A. Building a planet in record time. Nature 473, 460–461 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/473460a

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