Researchers say a planet in formation with a mass of 10 times the mass of Earth may have collided with Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, shortly after it was completed in a terrible collision that apparently left lasting effects on Jupiter's heart.
The violent collision, which scientists assume will explain information collected by NASA's Juno spacecraft, may have occurred millions of years after the sun was born about 4.5 billion years ago.
"We believe that collisions, especially massive collisions, may have been common during the formation of the solar system. For example, we believe that our moon is after a similar event. But the collision we are supposed to have with Jupiter was enormous." Said astronomer Andrea Isela, a researcher at Rice University in Houston.
According to this scenario, the planet, which was in formation and collided with Jupiter, plunged into the depths of the planet for the huge one that swallowed it.
Jupiter, a huge gaseous planet covered by thick red, brown, yellow and white clouds, is 143,000 kilometers in diameter.
"Juno measures Jupiter's gravitational field with exceptional accuracy," said Shang Fei Liu, associate professor of astronomy at Sun Yat-sen University in Zhuhai, China, and head of the research team published in the journal Nature. Scientists use this information to determine the materials that make up the planet and its internal structures."
By Jaiden Hawk August 16, 2019
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