Spitzer telescope captures birth of the planet in a big cosmic catastrophe – Moskovsky Komsomolets

As a result of the collision of two asteroids in the vicinity of the star NGC 2547-ID8 constellation Sail A cloud of tiny cosmic dust

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Spitzer Space Telescope (NASA) allowed to see a dust cloud around a young star – presumably the result of collisions between large asteroids. This type of collision can ultimately lead to the formation of planets. Scientists regularly monitored star called NGC 2547-ID8, until it “snowballed” a huge amount of dust in the period between August 2012 and January 2013.

This iconic concept shows the consequences of an asteroid collision around sun-like star NGC 2547-ID8. It is these events could, on assumptions of scientists, to form rocky planets. NASA / JPL-Caltech.

This is the first observation of “real-time” before and after the collision of cosmic bodies to look into the process of the formation of rocky planets such as Earth, NASA website informs.

Asteroids begin their evolution as a dust-like matter circling around young stars, and then collide with each other. But if they manage to survive after such a powerful collision, about 100 million years, they can become full terrestrial planets.

Presumably, our Moon formed in this way, becoming the result of a collision between the proto-Earth and an object the size of a Mars.

Previous observations of NGC 2547-ID8 age of about 35 million years, and rotating from the Earth at a distance of 1,200 light-years away in the constellation Sail already recorded changes in the amount of dust around the star, which may indicate that the collision between asteroids.

NASA / JPL-Caltech.

“We are seeing the formation of rocky planets happening before our eyes,” said George Rica University of Arizona (USA); he – co-author of the new study. “We have before us a unique opportunity to study this process in real time”.

The research team intends to continue using Spitzer to monitor this star and the spectacle of celestial catastrophe, hoping that the end will come any collision.

The results of the study looking at the magazine Science.