Sub-Orbital Space Flights & Satellite Exploration
Animation of a GIANT impact Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech bit.ly 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 22400 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, obsidian can be found around volcanoes, and in black rocks called tektites often found around meteor craters. 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 …
Tags: impact, JPL, analysis, Telescope
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech bit.ly 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 …
Tags: California, explosion, technology, Laboratory
Animation of a GIANT impact Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech bit.ly 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 …
Tags: Institute, airboyd, animation, Spitzer
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech bit.ly 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 …
Tags: Center, collision, NASA, analysis
