Planetary collision: An artist's rendering depicts planets colliding in a Sun-like binary star system about 300 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Aries.
Credit: UCLA/Lynette R. Cook.
LOS ANGELES: Two planets about 300 light-years from Earth slammed into each other recently, marking the first time evidence of such a catastrophic collision has been seen by scientists.
Astronomers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the California Institute of Technology (CALTECH) said the crash involved two planets orbiting a star in the Aries constellation.
Massive and catastrophic
The collision was uncovered while astronomers were attempting to measure the star's age, and found an unusually large amount of dust orbiting the star.
"It's as if Earth and Venus collided with each other," said Benjamin Zuckerman, a UCLA professor of physics and astronomy. "Astronomers have never seen anything like this before. Apparently, major catastrophic collisions can take place in a fully mature planetary system."
The astronomers' research will be published in December in the Astrophysical Journal. The collision was an "ultimate extinction event" that would have wiped out any life on either planet in minutes, the report says.
The prospect of Earth suffering an apocalyptic collision with another planet or asteroid has been fodder for science-fiction writers and film-makers ever since Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer's 1933 novel When Worlds Collide.
Low risk
Astronomers said however the odds of such collisions occurring remained low.
Tennessee State University astronomer Gregory Henry said scientists in the United States and France have long studied the stability of planetary orbits.
"Their computer models predict planetary motions into the distant future and they find a small probability for collisions of Mercury with Earth or Venus sometime in the next billion years or more," Henry said.
Zuckerman noted, however, that collisions have occurred in our Solar System's past.
"Many astronomers believe our moon was formed from the grazing collision of two planetary embryos, the young Earth and a body about the size of Mars," he said. "A crash that created tremendous debris, some of which condensed to form the Moon and some of which went into orbit around the young Sun."
that is very coooool and bad
that is very coooool and bad because maybe there was life on those planets
life
this is so weird. about 2 weeks ago i had a dream that our planet was on the path of extiction. my self and other scientists were trying to make the big bang theroy a reality. 1st we tried to see if we could create the moon, it worked so we thought,it crashed into the other moon. then we tried to create the earth and it failed as well. It exploded. the tools we needed were out in space, if only we could get the right equations and elements to make this a reality we would have saved man kind. Thank God it was only a dream. joe_g 782003@yahoo.com
Word for thought
I find it interesting that this occurred in the Aries constellation-in Greek Mythology which means Ram, or Goat. Daniel 7,8 in the bible speaks of future events about the Ram, and goat. Then match it up with our history. Can this be a hint to ruling powers and things to com on earth? Look it up after all Jesus used the Star of David to show when he was born. If so, be sure to look to Jesus today and not to the cosmos for answers.
Belinda
redneck
Why did God make those planets colide then? They could have had life. And looking to the cosmos and advanced aliens for answers is a handy shortcut so we don't have to figure them out ourselves :P
I consistently find it
I consistently find it amazing that such a great web site attracts such stupid thinking like the last comment! It wont be a planet or an asteroid smashing into the Earth or global warming that will kill mankind off, it'll be our own stupidity starting with airy fairy notions like the above.
Get a grip!
Great Article
It's wonderfully surreal reading articles like this.
Can you imagine witnessing such a collision--knowing the weeks, days, hours until it finally happened? It's one thing to talk about it; it's quite another to see it (at a safe distance) firsthand.
-VL (Author of Constellation Chronicles: The Lost Civilization of Aries)
PS - I'm glad I got that CAPTCHA math question right. I dread the day when a computer can add 2 + 0. ;)
Timing of the collision
Could you please tell me when this collision took place? In March of this year my son dreamt that Mars collided with Earth. Soon afterwards he received shocking news that saw him disconnect from reality. He likened his reaction to what happened as if it were an explosion, talked about the Big Bang and atomic theory, electrical energy and toxicity.
I find it coincidental that scientists saw this this year and wonder when it occured.
Thank you.
actually that is not true.
actually that is not true. they didnt smash recently but it happend 300 years ago. they just dicorvered it recently
IT DID HAPPEN
this did happen recently actually it happened 2 minutes ago dick weed!!!!!!!!!!
Shhhhh.. You in the Back, pay attention.
300 Light Years means that it took the light from the incident 300 years to reach those viewing it.
So indeed it happened 300 hundred years ago when the article was written.