A 1951 movie comes to mind when reading this news.
STARGAZERS have had a dramatic glimpse of what happens when planets smash into each other, the first time the results of such an event have been seen.Galactic events like this could justify those who support man exploring space. As A.E. Brain notes- "We need to hedge our bets. Not be stuck on a rock that, while a nice place to live, has no collision insurance."Two planets about 300 light years from Earth have slammed into each other recently, US astronomers say, 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.
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, 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."
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Comments (3)
I would advocate colonizing... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Herman | October 5, 2008 5:25 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I would advocate colonizing Mars, but that's probably the planet we're most likely to collide with.
1. Posted by Herman | October 5, 2008 5:25 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 5, 2008 17:25
2. Posted by Herman | October 5, 2008 5:28 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
"Two planets about 300 light years from Earth have slammed into each other recently" -- quoted news article
Actually, it seems to me that if the these planets are 300 light-years away, the collision would be around 300 years ago, hardly "recent."
2. Posted by Herman | October 5, 2008 5:28 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 5, 2008 17:28
3. Posted by _Mike_ | October 6, 2008 9:09 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Actually, it seems to me that if the these planets are 300 light-years away, the collision would be around 300 years ago, hardly "recent"
Recent is a term used comparatively. That is, at least two things are being compared when one uses the term 'recent'.
In terms of the age of the universe, 300 years is very much 'recent'. I'm guessing that the folks observing such events typically compare them on cosmological timescales not a 24 hour new cycle timescale...
3. Posted by _Mike_ | October 6, 2008 9:09 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 6, 2008 09:09