User:Kuzwa/HD 172555 celestial body collision

Artist's concept of the collision.

The HD 172555 celestial body collision was the collision between a Mercury sized celestial body and another Moon sized object around the star HD 172555 several thousand years ago. The collision ejected large amounts of matter into space and merged the smaller body together with the larger one leaving a large warped and melted object that will reform in several thousand years.

The collision was first detected by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope after it detected a large abnormal debris field around the young star.

References

• http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/spitzer-20090810.html
• http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/news/spitzer-20090810.html#
• http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,538815,00.html?test=latestnews

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