Two giant planets collide outside Solar System. Both worlds get liquified

In what could be a cataclysmic event that shows the brutal nature of the universe, two giant planets outside the solar system have collided with each other.Â

The two giant exoplanets anywhere from several to tens of Earth masses crashed into one another, creating both the infrared spike and the cloud that was picked up by astronomers on Earth.Â

Astronomers, who noticed the bang, said that a crash like this would completely liquify the two planets, leaving behind a single molten core surrounded by a cloud of gas, hot rock, and dust. Surprisingly, this cloud was still orbiting the star, like the glowing remains of the two worlds.Â

The team is now planning to use the Webb to observe this system. (Photo: Getty)

EARTH GETS FRONT SEAT TO THE EVENT

It all began when scientists were observing a young sun-like star, which they noticed suddenly dipped in brightness. This dip was significant and upon closer inspection, it was found that just before this dip, the star displayed a sudden spike in infrared luminosity.Â

This luminosity lasted for 1,000 days, but then something strange happened. The sun was suddenly eclipsed by an object that continued for 500 days, nearly two years. When scientists looked at the data, they realised that the culprit behind both the spike in luminosity and the eclipse was a giant, glowing cloud of gas and dust.Â

They further probed and came to the conclusion that this cloud was formed by a mega-collision. A cosmic collision between two exoplanets, one of which likely contained ice, the researchers think.

Uranus’ tilt is due to an ancient planetary collision. (Photo: Nasa)

The team used data from NASA’s now-retired WISE mission – the spacecraft continues to operate under the name NEOWISE. While this data revealed remnants of this planetary collision, the glow of this crash should still be visible to telescopes like NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.Â

The team is now planning to use the Webb to observe this system and what remains of the two worlds. They have published the details of this planetary collision in the journal Nature.Â

Astronomers have maintained that planetary collisions are not a rare thing in the universe and that within our own Solar System, there is evidence of giant, planetary collisions. For instance the Uranus’ tilt and the existence of Earth’s moon point to times in our distant history when the planets in our stellar neighborhood slammed together, forever changing their shape and place in orbit.