Submission + - Astronomers find planet collision (tsuniv.edu)
thered2001 writes: From the article:
"It's as if Earth and Venus collided with each other," said Benjamin Zuckerman, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy and a co-author on the paper. "Astronomers have never seen anything like this before; apparently major, catastrophic, collisions can take place in a fully mature planetary system."
"If any life was present on either planet, the massive collision would have wiped out everything in a matter of minutes: the ultimate extinction event," said coauthor Gregory Henry, an astronomer at Tennessee State University. "A massive disk of infrared-emitting dust circling the star provides silent testimony to this sad fate," said Henry.
"It's as if Earth and Venus collided with each other," said Benjamin Zuckerman, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy and a co-author on the paper. "Astronomers have never seen anything like this before; apparently major, catastrophic, collisions can take place in a fully mature planetary system."
"If any life was present on either planet, the massive collision would have wiped out everything in a matter of minutes: the ultimate extinction event," said coauthor Gregory Henry, an astronomer at Tennessee State University. "A massive disk of infrared-emitting dust circling the star provides silent testimony to this sad fate," said Henry.