Astronomers recently reported that there are comet crashes happening in a star near Earth, and these collisions may pave the way for the emergence of life-sustaining elements in that star.
Data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/Sub millimeter Array (ALMA) Telescope in Chile showed evidences of a clump of carbon monoxide gas circling the star, Beta Pictoris. According to the researchers, this magnanimous gas cloud should decrease its size due to the radiation coming from the star; however, it seems to be refilling itself with carbon monoxide endlessly.
This refill of gas for the cloud may have come from the comets smashing to each other while revolving around Beta Pictoris. Astronomers theorized that the comets present in the disk surrounding the star collide with each other every five minutes.
"Unless we are observing Beta Pictoris at a very unusual time, the carbon monoxide must be continuously replenished," Bill Dent, lead author of the study, said in a press release.
"The most abundant source of carbon monoxide in a young solar system is collisions between icy bodies, from comets up to larger planet-size objects," he added.
The gas clump is 13 billion kilometers away from Beta Pictoris, thrice as far as Neptune is to our own Sun. Dent and his colleagues stated that this continuous collision will soon bring about life-supporting elements like water to this budding star system.
"This clump is an important clue to what is going on in the outer reaches of this young planetary system," co-author and astronomer at the University of Cambridge, U.K., Mark Wyatt said in a press release.
Beta Pictoris is fairly easy to spot, especially if you're living in the Southern Hemisphere. Just face towards the horizon, direct your gaze upwards, and look for the second-brightest star in the sky. Beta Pictoris can be seen in the United States but it is more visible in regions south of the Equator.
Further details of this discovery can be read on the March 6 issue of Science.
