The giant impacts that dominate late stages of planet formation have a wide range of consequences for young planets and their atmospheres, according to new research.
Research led by Durham University and involving the University of Glasgow, both UK, has developed a way of revealing the scale of atmosphere loss during planetary collisions based on 3-D supercomputer simulations.
The simulations show how Earth-like planets with thin atmospheres might have evolved in an early solar system depending on how they are impacted by other objects.
Using the COSMA supercomputer, part of the DiRAC High-Performance Computing facility in Durham, funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the researchers ran more than 100 detailed simulations of different giant impacts on Earth-like planets, altering the speed and angle of the impact on each occasion.
They found that grazing impacts—like the one thought to have formed our Moon—led to much less atmospheric loss than a direct hit.
Head on collisions and higher speeds led to much greater erosion, sometimes obliterating the atmosphere completely along with some of the mantle, the layer that sits under a planet's crust.
The findings provide greater insight into what happens during these giant impacts, which scientists know are common and important events in the evolution of planets both in our solar system and beyond.
The findings are published in the Astrophysical Journal.
More information:
J. A. Kegerreis, V. R. Eke, R. J. Massey, and L. F. A. Teodoro. Atmospheric Erosion by Giant Impacts onto Terrestrial Planets - IOPscience [$], The Astrophysical Journal (DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab9810)
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2020, @09:32AM (7 children)
went through paywall, article points to http://icc.dur.ac.uk/giant_impacts/atmos_fid_1e8_anim.mp4. [dur.ac.uk]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday July 17 2020, @10:51AM (6 children)
Which is 404-ing on me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday July 17 2020, @11:08AM (4 children)
Is there some punctuation that might not be part of the URL which could be scraped off?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday July 17 2020, @11:35AM (3 children)
Et tu, Brute?
Are you being rhetorical on me too?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday July 17 2020, @12:28PM (2 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Friday July 17 2020, @12:47PM (1 child)
Go have a beer instead of trying to Phil superior in my Friday evening. [pinimg.com]
Otherwise, I'll remember some Etruscan words to start my writings on thin sheets of lead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:44PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2020, @02:05PM
sorry. please remove the dot at the end. or ask soylent to stop merging http links with sentence-ending dots.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2020, @10:51AM (1 child)
An aristarchus submission would have made a bigger crater, alligator.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2020, @10:53AM
crator/alligator
or
crater/alligater
Pick one.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2020, @01:42PM (2 children)
It usually kills off anything breathable when friggin Venus slams into Mars.
Another Canadian study?
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2020, @03:06PM
...so... when planets collide and destroy the atmosphere:
- nobody's life matters
- nobody can hear you scream, "I can't breathe!"
Actually, I think those BLM proponents are onto something, because I am not black, and nothing about my life has ever seemed to matter. It is a consolation that somewhere there are lives that do.
(Score: 2) by Kitsune008 on Friday July 17 2020, @04:58PM
Do tell us how often Venus slams into Mars, you astounding astronomical genius.
Another stupid git commenting?
Show us on the doll where Canada touched you. ;-)