Cosmic Collisions: How to Witness the Birth of Planets ⚡ экспресс
Giant planetary collisions play a key role in the birth of moons and planets themselves. Scientists have found that such cataclysms can be seen as a bright flash that then gradually fades over days or years. It's like a giant cosmic firework display that modern telescopes can catch. How many such flashes will we spot in the coming years?
The birth of planets resembles the workings of a cosmic forge. Rocky blocks collide and fuse together. A powerful impact strikes a spark—material heats to white-hot and glows like cooling metal. Computer simulations show: the flash is visible from days to years, peaking at a tenth of the sun's light. Modern telescopes monitoring millions of stars can catch it. New sky surveys like Gaia and LSST will gather precise brightness data of stars. Scientists anticipate up to 14 such events—they will reveal how often worlds collide in the Milky Way.
🎯 The temperature at the impact site skyrockets to thousands of degrees in minutes—debris glows like a blacksmith's workpiece.
🎬 In Lars von Trier’s film ‘Melancholia,’ Earth collides with a rogue planet, producing a blinding flash akin to this effect.