What objects observed today represent the surviving remnants of the planetesimal population?
Answer
Asteroids and comets.
The vast majority of planetesimals either accreted into larger planets or were destroyed/absorbed into the Sun during the early, dynamic history of the solar system. However, some of these building blocks survived the chaotic formative era. These surviving remnants, which escaped wholesale accretion into major planetary bodies, are what modern astronomy identifies as asteroids and comets. They serve as tangible, pristine evidence of the composition and conditions present during the time when planetesimals were the dominant solid components of the solar nebula.
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