Agitated Star Systems are not Suitable for the Presence of Life
The universe is fascinating but also filled with dangerous locations. A team of astronomers observed what happens after two planets clash and learned that the sheer violence of such impact could disrupt the chances for life on planets that appear to be quite similar to two earth.
At a distance of 400 light-years away, two dwarf stars orbit around each other. These stars are surrounded by a thick layer of dust that is considerably warmer than it should be like more than one billion years have passed since the stars formed.
Further investigations inferred that two Earth-like exoplanets might have crashed into each other, releasing a cloud of dust and debris that continues to remain warm. The system has reached maturity, but it appears that it still struggles to reach a stable structure.
The chance to observe the consequences of such impacts when the history of a system is so advanced is very valuable since it can offer access to fresh and interesting information.
Clouds of dust are encountered often in space. Planets will form from the dust particles that are attracted around young stars, forming agglomerations that grow in millions of years to become huge objects with their gravitational fields. By the end of such processes most of the dust that is present within the solar system has been absorbed by the star or pushed by solar winds near the cooler edges of the solar system.
Even if other planets manage to form in such solar systems, the layers of dust will block sun rays from reaching the surface. This means that these planets will offer nothing more than frozen worlds where the harsh temperature will compromise the formation of any life forms, at least in accordance with our vision about how life can appear and evolve.
More research is already underway, and a study was published in a scientific journey.
Doris’s passion for writing started to take shape in college where she was editor-in-chief of the college newspaper. Even though she ended up working in IT for more than 7 years, she’s now back to what he always enjoyed doing. With a true passion for technology, Doris mostly covers tech-related topics.
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