Astronomy: Asteroid collision with another star confirmed after 20 years
20 years ago, there was a hint of a dust cloud in the orbit of Beta Pictoris. Now it appears that it was caused by an asteroid collision.
(Image: NASA/Lynette Cook)
A research group has used the James Webb Space Telescope to confirm that the Spitzer Space Telescope observed the traces of a gigantic asteroid collision in the Beta Pictoris star system 20 years ago. The University of Johns Hopkins has now announced this and explained that the discovery is based precisely on what the James Webb space telescope no longer observes. The data now lacks any trace of the huge dust cloud that was created during the collision and which Spitzer discovered two decades ago. So it has disappeared in the last two decades and has not been replaced. It had its origin in a truly gigantic collision in the young star.
Every trace has disappeared
(Image:Â Roberto Molar Candanosa/Johns Hopkins University, with Beta Pictoris concept art by Lynette Cook/NASA)
In 2004 and 2005, Spitzer discovered traces of heated crystalline silicates, which are often found in young stars such as Beta Pictoris. This had already indicated that a "cataclysmic collision" had taken place there, in which the celestial bodies involved were partially shattered into tiny particles. At the time, it was assumed that the underlying process was constantly repeating itself. It was only when the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was unable to find any trace of the heated minerals in the same area that a different explanation was confirmed. The observation suggests that the material was pushed outwards by radiation from the star, where it cooled down and is therefore no longer detectable. At the same time, it was not replaced.
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Beta Pictoris is 63 light years away from Earth and has long been of particular interest to astronomers. Because it is only around 20 million years old - while our sun has over 4.5 billion years under its belt - it is of particular interest to astronomers because its planetary system is still forming. Two exoplanets have now been found there, both of which have already been imaged directly. During the asteroid collision 20 years ago, around 100,000 times as much material was smashed into dust as was contained in the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. The new observation is now to be presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
(mho)
