Jupiter was smacked on its side by a protoplanet ten times Earth's mass, study argues
FirstpostJupiter, the solar system’s largest planet, may have been smacked head-on by an embryonic planet 10 times Earth’s mass not long after being formed, a monumental crash with apparent lasting effects on the Jovian core, scientists said on Thursday. Interior models based on Juno data indicated Jupiter has a large “diluted” core representing about 5 to 15 percent of the planet’s mass comprised of rocky and icy material unexpectedly mixed with light elements like hydrogen and helium. Computer models indicated that a head-on collision with a protoplanet — a planet in its formative stages — of roughly 10 Earth masses would have broken apart Jupiter’s dense core and mixed light and heavy elements, explaining Juno’s findings, the researchers said. This protoplanet, with a composition similar to Jupiter’s primordial core, may have been slightly less massive than the solar system’s most distant ice giant planets Uranus and Neptune and would have become a full-fledged gas giant if it had not been swallowed by Jupiter, Liu said.
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