Using a powerful supercomputer, scientists have created 3D simulations of the major planetary impacts, showing exactly how hard a hit is needed to literally hit the wind (or rather, the atmosphere) of an entire planet.
With the help of the COSMA supercomputer, researchers led by a team from Durham University attempted to calculate the consequences of a KO cosmic blow as planets are still forming.
The higher-speed head-on collisions did much more damage, essentially obliterating the atmosphere in one fell swoop, knocking large chunks out of the planetary mantle in the process.
The team conducted over 100 detailed simulations of these massive impacts, altering the speed and angle of attack each time, with some truly impressive and terrifying results.
The simulations show how Earth-like planets could have recovered and evolved their atmospheres after traumatic collisions with other high-speed objects in space, with grazing shots causing far less atmospheric damage, and sometimes even producing satellites like our own. moon in the process. .
The moon formed as a result of one of these collisions 4.425 million years ago, with a Mars-sized protoplanet called Theia. According to the researchers, we were very lucky and only lost between 10 and 50 percent of our atmosphere during this brutal encounter.
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This type of analysis can help us better understand the formation of our own planet, as well as help inform our understanding of atmospheric development in relation to any future colonization candidate among the approximately 4,000 exoplanets we have cataloged to date.
“We know that planetary collisions can have a dramatic effect on a planet’s atmosphere, but this is the first time that we have been able to study in detail the wide variety of these violent events.” said lead author Dr. Jacob Kegerreis.
“[This] It will help us understand both the history of Earth as a habitable planet and the evolution of exoplanets around other stars. “
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