  A fundamental, unsolved problem in Solar System formation is explaining the
melting and crystallization of chondrules found in chondritic meteorites.
Theoretical models of chondrule melting in nebular shocks has been shown to be
consistent with many aspects of thermal histories inferred for chondrules from
laboratory experiments; but, the mechanism driving these shocks is unknown.
Planetesimals and planetary embryos on eccentric orbits can produce bow shocks
as they move supersonically through the disk gas, and are one possible source
of chondrule-melting shocks. We investigate chondrule formation in bow shocks
around planetoids through 3D radiation hydrodynamics simulations. A new
radiation transport algorithm that combines elements of flux-limited diffusion
and Monte Carlo methods is used to capture the complexity of radiative
transport around bow shocks. An equation of state that includes the rotational,
vibrational, and dissociation modes of H$_2$ is also used. Solids are followed
directly in the simulations and their thermal histories are recorded. Adiabatic
expansion creates rapid cooling of the gas, and tail shocks behind the embryo
can cause secondary heating events. Radiative transport is efficient, and bow
shocks around planetoids can have luminosities $\sim$few$\times10^{-8}$
L$_{\odot}$. While barred and radial chondrule textures could be produced in
the radiative shocks explored here, porphyritic chondrules may only be possible
in the adiabatic limit. We present a series of predicted cooling curves that
merit investigation in laboratory experiments to determine whether the solids
produced by bow shocks are represented in the meteoritic record by chondrules
or other solids.
