It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen occasionally
A post on social networks became the impetus for the discovery of an explosive collision between two planets
Two giant icy exoplanets collided around a Sun-like star, creating a flash of light and plumes of dust in a distant space system 1,800 light-years from Earth. An international team of scientists noticed the collision after it was pointed out by an amateur astronomer.
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The collision of two ice planets
It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen occasionally. A post on social networks written by an observant fan of space observation has become the impetus for the discovery of the explosive collision of two massive icy planets. The observations showed that the system, 1,800 light-years from Earth, doubled in brightness in infrared wavelengths about three years before the star began to fade as its light was blocked by a cloud of dust.
“To be honest, this observation was a complete surprise to me,” says Matthew Kenworthy of Leiden University in the Netherlands. “Once we shared the visible light curve of this star with other astronomers, we began to follow it with a network of other telescopes. One amateur astronomer then pointed out on social networks that the star brightened in the infrared region a thousand days before its optical dimming. That’s when I understood that this was an unusual event.’
Professional and amateur astronomers studied the star intensively and monitored the change in its brightness over the next two years. When they evaluated the results, they concluded that the most likely explanation for the unusual behavior is the collision of two ice giant exoplanets that caused the infrared glow detected by NASA’s Neowise mission, which searches for asteroids and comets.
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“Our calculations and computer models show that the temperature and size of the glowing material, as well as the duration of the glow, are consistent with the collision of two ice giant exoplanets,” said study co-author Simon Lock from the University of Bristol.
An expanding cloud of debris from the collision came in front of the star three years later, causing the star to lose brightness in visible wavelengths. Scientists believe that eventually the mass of material around the fragments may condense to form a family of moons. In the coming years, the dust cloud will slowly begin to dissipate, which will be a good time for scientists to observe the impact of the collision with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the most powerful spacecraft in human history.
Preview photo source: NASA, source: Nature, Metro
2023-10-13 12:22:24
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