ANCIENT asteroids have provided key insights into our Solar System’s history of cosmic violence.
Researchers have reestablished a section of the timeline tracking the formation of the Solar System.
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Millions of years ago, asteroids collided with one another and exposed their warm cores to the vacuum of space, causing rapid cooling.
By studying meteorite cores found here on Earth, researchers found that between roughly 8million and 12million years after the Sun was formed, there was an intense period of space collisions.
“Everything seems to have been smashing together at that time. And we wanted to know why,” the study’s lead author said in a statement.
Researchers were able to determine what caused the age of intense space junk bumper cars.
“The theory that best explained this energetic early phase of the solar system indicated that it was caused primarily by the dissipation of the so-called solar nebula,” a co-author of the study said.
The solar nebula was the extra gas that was not compressed into the formation of the Sun.
This extra gas acted as a resisting force against asteroids, slowing them down and reducing collisions.
After the solar nebula was “blown away by solar winds and radiation” cosmic collisions were more common and occurred at higher speeds.
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Space is more accessible than ever before thanks to innovations from private companies like SpaceX and public institutions like Nasa.
The next decade of space exploration will see projects of all sorts and likely lead to mind-blowing discoveries.
At the end of 2022, Nasa and SpaceX will launch a spaceship headed for Psyche, a metal asteroid located between Mars and Jupiter.
Psyche is supposedly a haven of gold, platinum, and other metals – Fox News estimates the asteroid has over $10,000 quadrillion worth of valuables on it.
The Falcon Heavy rocket will arrive at the asteroid in 2026.
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