Astronomers first discovered how a powerful blow literally ripped off part of the atmosphere from an exoplanet
At the initial stages of formation, solar systems with exoplanets experience a large number of various shocks. Upon completion of the formation of the host star itself, the material remaining around it begins to "stick together", and the process of formation of exoplanets starts.
However, the gravitational "chaos" taking place around the young star provokes the newly formed planets to collide with each other.
Astronomers believe that our Moon appeared as a result of an ancient collision of the Earth with another large object. And according to scientists, such collisions are quite common in young systems.
So, during the next observation, a group of astronomers led by specialists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recorded traces such a large-scale collision that happened relatively recently in the neighboring solar system, located just 95 light years from our The sun.
Scientists have established that the likely collision occurred between an Earth-like exoplanet and a smaller object about 200,000 Earth years ago at a speed of about 10 km per second.
Scientists have drawn attention to the Star HD 172555 due to the extremely unusual gas composition and dust around the sun. So observations of the star showed that it contains a large amount of rare minerals, and its particles are significantly smaller than scientists expected to see, which form from the standard disk of stellar "Waste".
Taking a closer look at HD 172555, scientists discovered what is called carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide). At the same time, this gas is in high concentration and is quite close to the star, approximately in 10 astro units (1 astro unit is equal to the distance from the Sun to the Earth).
This event simply required a scientific explanation. After all, the whole point is that at such a close distance from the star, under normal conditions, there should be a minimum amount of such gas. And carbon monoxide is subject to so-called photodissociation (the process by which the gas is destroyed by the light flux).
Astronomers began looking for an answer, and in the course of the work, several of the most likely hypotheses were tested. Of all the options considered that would explain the observed gas concentrations, scientists considered the most likely the consequences of a large-scale collision in the past.
So, according to the most probable version, such a large volume of gas was thrown into space as a result of a powerful impact of two celestial bodies, which happened about 200,000 years ago. By cosmic standards, this event happened recently, and that is why the star has not yet had time to destroy the ejected gas.
Well, judging by the amount of emitted gas, a terrestrial exoplanet and a smaller object collided. As a result, part of the atmosphere ended up in outer space.
Scientists also suggest that such events are far from uncommon in the early stages of the development of solar systems, and scientists will continue to look for traces of such events in other systems.
Did you like the material? Then rate it and don't forget to subscribe to the channel. Thank you for your attention!