Webb’s observations suggest a giant asteroid collision in a nearby planetary system

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A collision between giant asteroids likely occurred in a neighboring star system called Beta Pictoris in recent years, and two different space observatories are helping to tell the story.

The Beta Pictoris system, located just 63 light-years of Earth, has long intrigued astronomers due to its proximity and age.

Although our solar system is estimated to be around 4.5 billion years old, Beta Pictoris is considered a “teenage planetary system” that is 20 million years old, said astronomer Christine Chen, a research scientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. who observed the system multiple times. times.

“That means it’s still forming,” she said during a presentation at 244th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Madison, Wisconsin, on June 10. “It’s a partially formed planetary system, but it’s not ready yet.”

Chen observed Beta Pictoris, which has two known gas giant planets called Beta Pictoris bec, using the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope in 2004 and 2005. At the time, Chen and his colleagues saw several different populations of dust within the system.

“I was very excited to reobserve this system in 2023 using the James Webb Space Telescope,” Chen said. “And I really hoped to understand the planetary system in much more detail, and we are definitely doing that.”

Since Webb opened his infrared eye to the universe in 2022, scientists have used the space observatory to peer through the gas and dust to study supernovae, exoplanets It is distant galaxies.

By comparing Spitzer and Webb observations, Chen and his colleagues realized that the data they captured 20 years earlier came at a rather fortuitous time – and two of the main dust clouds had already disappeared.

Chen is the lead author of a study comparing the observations that was presented at the conference on Monday.

“Most of the JWST discoveries come from things the telescope detected directly,” study co-author Cicero Lu, a former Johns Hopkins astrophysics doctoral student, said in a statement. “In this case, the story is a little different because our results come from what JWST didn’t see.”

The team believes the Spitzer data suggests that a pair of giant asteroids collided shortly before the telescope’s observations of the system.

“Beta Pictoris is at an age where planet formation in the Earth’s planetary zone is still ongoing through giant asteroid collisions, so what we could be seeing here is basically how rocky planets and other bodies are forming in real time.” , Chen said.

Evidence of a giant collision

When Chen and her team observed Beta Pictoris between 2004 and 2005, they likely glimpsed evidence of a “collisionally active planetary system” but didn’t realize it yet, she said.

In addition to the two known planets, previous research has detected evidence of comets and asteroids circling the young system.

As comets and asteroids collide with each other, they create dusty debris and help form rocky planets.

The collision that occurred just before Spitzer’s observations likely pulverized a massive asteroid into fine dust particles smaller than pollen or powdered sugar, Chen said.

She said the mass of dust created was about 100,000 times the size of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, which was estimated to be between 6.2 and 9.3 miles (10 and 15 kilometers) wide. The dust was then expelled from the planetary system by radiation from the central star, which is slightly hotter than our Sun.

Initially, astronomers thought that small bodies were colliding and replenishing the dust clouds seen in Beta Pictoris over time. But the powerful Webb telescope failed to detect dust.

Although gas giant planets have formed in the system, it is likely that rocky planets are still forming.

Astronomers plan to make more observations of the system to see if more planets appear. However, studying the system can help astronomers better understand what the early days of our solar system were like.

“The question we are trying to contextualize is whether this entire process of formation of terrestrial and giant planets is common or rare, and the even more basic question: are planetary systems like the solar system so rare?” said study co-author Kadin Worthen, a doctoral student in astrophysics at Johns Hopkins, in a statement. “Basically, we’re trying to understand how weird or average we are.”

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