Planetary Demolition Derby

Spitzer_ssc2009-16a_1024

spitzer_ssc2009-16a August 10th, 2009

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (IPAC)

This artist's concept shows a celestial body about the size of our moon slamming at great speed into a body the size of Mercury. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence that a high-speed collision of this sort occurred a few thousand years ago around a young star, called HD 172555, still in the early stages of planet formation. The star is about 100 light-years from Earth.

Spitzer detected the signatures of vaporized and melted rock, in addition to rubble, all flung out from the giant impact. Further evidence from the infrared telescope shows that these two bodies must have been traveling at a velocity relative to each other of at least 10 kilometers per second (about 22,400 miles per hour).

As the bodies slammed into each other, a huge flash of light would have been emitted. Rocky surfaces were vaporized and melted, and hot matter was sprayed everywhere. Spitzer detected the vaporized rock in the form of silicon monoxide gas, and the melted rock as a glassy substance called obsidian. On Earth, silica can be found around volcanoes in black glassy rocks called obsidian, and around meteor craters in small rocks called tektites.

Shock waves from the collision would have traveled through the planet, throwing rocky rubble into space. Spitzer also detected the signatures of this rubble.

In the end, the larger planet is left skinned, stripped of its outer layers. The core of the smaller body and most of its surface were absorbed by the larger one. This merging of rocky bodies is how planets like Earth are thought to form.

Astronomers say a similar type of event stripped Mercury of its crust early on in the formation of our solar system, flinging the removed material away from Mercury, out into space and into the sun. Our moon was also formed by this type of high-speed impact: a body the size of Mars is thought to have slammed into a young Earth about 30 to 100 million years after the sun formed. The sun is now 4.5 billion years old. According to this theory, the resulting molten rock, vapor and shattered debris mixed with debris from Earth to form a ring around our planet. Over time, this debris coalesced to make the moon.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2713-ssc2009-16a-Planetary-Demolition-Derby

Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: Public Domain

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Image Details

Image Type
Artwork
Object Name
HD 172555
Subject - Milky Way
Planet > Type > Terrestrial
Star > Circumstellar Material > Planetary System
Star > Circumstellar Material > Disk > Debris

Distance

Universescale1
100 light years
Spitzer_ssc2009-16a_1280
×
ID
ssc2009-16a
Subject Category
B.1.1.1.   B.3.7.1.   B.3.7.2.3.  
Subject Name
HD 172555
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (IPAC)
Release Date
2009-08-10
Lightyears
100
Redshift
100
Reference Url
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2713-ssc2009-16a-Planetary-Demolition-Derby
Type
Artwork
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Instrument
Color Assignment
Band
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Spitzer Space Telescope
URL
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
Public Domain
Publisher
Spitzer Science Center
Publisher ID
spitzer
Resource ID
ssc2009-16a.tif
Metadata Date
2017-03-13
Metadata Version
1.1
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×
Universescalefull
100 light years

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