微行星被认为是存在于原行星盘和残骸盘内的固态物体。

一种被广为接受的行星形成理论是维克托·萨夫罗诺夫（Viktor Safronov）的微行星假说，说明行星的形成是由微小的尘埃颗粒经由不断的碰撞和黏合，形成越来越大的个体。当这个个体的直径达到大约1公里的大小，就可以直接经由相互间的重力吸引，更快地形成月球尺度的原行星，成为庞然大物。这就是微行星如何经常被定义的。比微行星小的物体依赖布朗运动或是气体中的湍流运动，使彼此间能发生足以导致黏合的碰撞。还有，微行星也可能在原行星盘的盘面中段尘埃颗粒密集成层的区域，因为经历重力的不稳定而聚集。许多的微行星会因为剧烈的撞击而破碎，但是一些最大的微行星可能经历这个阶段后仍能存在并继续增长成为原行星，然后成为行星。

Planetesimals /plænᵻˈtɛsᵻməlz/ are solid objects thought to exist in protoplanetary disks and in debris disks.

A widely accepted theory of planet formation, the so-called planetesimal hypotheses, the Chamberlin–Moulton planetesimal hypothesis and that of Viktor Safronov, states that planets form out of cosmic dust grains that collide and stick to form larger and larger bodies. When the bodies reach sizes of approximately one kilometer, then they can attract each other directly through their mutual gravity, enormously aiding further growth into moon-sized protoplanets. This is how planetesimals are often defined. Bodies that are smaller than planetesimals must rely on Brownian motion or turbulent motions in the gas to cause the collisions that can lead to sticking. Alternatively, planetesimals may form in a very dense layer of dust grains that undergoes a collective gravitational instability in the mid-plane of a protoplanetary disk or via the concentration and gravitational collapse of swarms of larger particles in streaming instabilities. Many planetesimals eventually break apart during violent collisions, as may have happened to 4 Vesta and 90 Antiope, but a few of the largest planetesimals may survive such encounters and continue to grow into protoplanets and later planets.