A protoplanetary disk is a gas-and-solid astrophysical disk around a young star in which planet formation occurs. Its evolution combines accretion, radiation, gas dynamics and the growth of solid material. A minimum-mass solar nebula is one reconstruction of the material needed to form the Solar System.
Removal of disk gas by accretion onto the host star, winds and photoevaporation. The finite availability of gas limits which solid cores can acquire massive envelopes. The disk's evolutionary state matters more than a single universal dispersal time.
A transition beyond which a specified volatile can predominantly condense into solid grains under local temperature and pressure. Without qualification it often means the water-ice transition. Its location evolves with disk heating, cooling and composition; it is not a universal fixed orbital radius.
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