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I think the author has the "frost zone" theory backwards. It's not that it's too cold for rocky planets to form outside the frost zone (after all, there are som

I think the author has the "frost zone" theory backwards. It's not that it's too cold for rocky planets to form outside the frost zone (after all, there are some planet-sized moons out there) but rather that inside the frost zone it is too hot for planets to hold on to hydrogen, so you don't get gas giants. I would think that a gassy planet close to a star would have to have a really big solid or liquid core of heavy elements.

teamonkey 13y ago
The frost line is the point at which ice crystals can form of the major planetary gasses. The theory was that outside the frost line these crystals would add to the density of particulates in the region, therefore larger planets would form outside the frost line and they would have a greater proportion of gasses than the inner planets.