A Mars-sized planet may have been destroyed in our early solar system, study suggests
Researchers in the U.S. have found evidence that a large planet may have existed billions of years ago - before meeting a “catastrophic” end.
Scientists in the United States have uncovered evidence that a large, now-defunct celestial body, potentially similar in size to the Moon or Mars, orbited the Sun early in the history of our solar system.
In a study published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, the researchers posited a planet that had a radius potentially exceeding 1,000 miles, but was destroyed in a “catastrophic” event.
Why do researchers think the planet existed?
The scientists’ findings stem from their analysis of a small, rare piece of space debris. Known as an angrite meteorite, it is a volcanic rock that formed soon after our solar system came into being around 4.6 billion years ago, before arriving on Earth.
The angrite meteorite sample in question, dubbed Northwest Africa (NWA) 12774, was discovered in the Sahara Desert.
Led by Aaron Bell, an assistant research professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, the team of researchers found signs within NWA 12774 that it had been formed in a large rocky planet unlike any other in our solar system.
“When Bell and his colleagues were studying NWA 12774, they found the meteorite contained clinopyroxene, a mineral crystal commonly found in Earth’s crust and mantle,” explains CU Boulder’s Yvaine Ye. “In particular, NWA 12774’s clinopyroxene was exceptionally rich in aluminum, a telltale sign that the rock formed under enormous pressure deep underground.”
When they conducted simulations of the rock’s formation, they calculated that the high levels of pressure required were consistent with creation inside a planetary body with a radius of at least 1,000 kilometers (621 miles).
What’s more, the good condition of NWA 12774’s mineral crystals was also significant. This suggested they were formed in only the initial depths below the body’s surface - increasing the planet’s potential size.
“Under that scenario, the angrite parent body might have stretched beyond 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles) in radius,” Ye writes.
The Moon has a radius of just over 1,000 miles, while Mars’ radius reaches around 2,000 miles.
“Catastrophically disrupted”
“It’s incredible to think there was once a world this large,” Bell told an interview with CU Boulder. “We only know it existed because a few fragments of it happened to land on Earth.”
Although it is not clear how the theorized planet could have disappeared from our solar system, a collision with another object is posited, with Bell’s team of researchers pointing to an event in which it was “catastrophically disrupted”.
What they do know, though, is that the composition of angrite meteorites does not mirror the ingredients typically found in rocky planets in our solar system. This indicates that the celestial body would have been “geochemically atypical”, the scientists say.
“The materials that formed the angrite parent body are fundamentally different from the ingredients of Earth and Mars,” Bell says. “It points to a distinct and separate evolutionary path in planetary formation in the early history of our solar system.”
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