New Earth Forming in Deep Space?

Space telescope Spitzer for the first time registered a collision of two planets that have the potential of forming a new ‘Earth’ by merging

NASA’s space telescope Spitzer registered a collision between two planets in the orbit of one star called HD 172555 similar to the one that created the Earth’s only natural satellite, the Moon. 

Still, this did not happen recently, but in the several millennia and in this case two rocky planets collided with high speed and created an energy sufficient to melt some rocks.

A smaller space object of the size of the Moon, crashed into a larger object, a bit smaller than

With the help of equipment on the telescope, NASA’s experts also noticed pieces of melted glass, such as the ones that can be found on our planet in granite rocks and tektites – hardened lava that made it to the surface.

Formation of the “Moon” is being awaited 

It is presumed that the space objects travelled at a speed of at least 10 kilometres per second in order to produce so much rocky debris in space and in such events, planets grow in size or become smaller. In the first case, there is a merging of cores of the planets and some of their surfaces are shed.

Comparing this collision with the one of our planet, scientists stress that our collision must have been very forceful, just as the one registered by Spitzer, enough to melt the Earth’s surface. After that, the debris probably travelled in ring formations around the planet and after a while created the Moon.

But it is still unknown if this recent collision will result in a satellite for the hit planet.

Although the Solar System has been quiet and peaceful lately, last month a small comet collided with Jupiter, leaving a ‘scar’ the size of the Earth.