The James Webb Space Telescope has captured images of two massive asteroids colliding in a nearby star system. This image could help us understand the prevalence of solar systems similar to our own.
The colossal collision released dust amounting to 100,000 times more than the impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This intense collision recently occurred near Beta Pictoris, a star system located 63 light-years away in the constellation Pictoris.
Illustration of a protoplanetary disk, similar to the disk being studied by the James Webb Space Telescope in its recent observations of the Beta Pictoris star system. (Image: ESO).
Beta Pictoris is just a “baby” compared to our Solar System, existing for only 20 million years versus the venerable 4.5 billion years of our Solar System. It was first discovered in 1983 by NASA’s Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and is believed to have formed from the shock waves of a nearby supernova.
Although the young star system currently has at least two giant gas planets, it lacks any known rocky worlds like ours. However, rocky planets may be in the process of formation due to significant collisions generating dust, such as the collision detected by the JWST. This new finding was recently presented at the 244th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Madison, Wisconsin.
To quickly photograph the distant asteroid collision, astronomers trained the JWST’s cameras and discovered that the massive silicate dust clouds identified by the Spitzer Space Telescope between 2004 and 2005 had completely vanished.
This indicates that about 20 years ago, a colossal collision between two asteroids may have occurred, transforming these objects into a substantial amount of dust with particles smaller than pollen or powdered sugar.
Researchers believe that these new findings will help astronomers gain a better understanding of how star systems are structured and the frequency at which systems like ours may emerge.
