Testing the Impact Hypothesis in the NGC 2457-ID8 System
Abstract
Terrestrial plant formation is a violent and messy process with roughly half of the impact-body mass contributing to net growth, leading to diverse compositions in the solar system's terrestrial bodies. Through time-domain monitoring young exoplanetary systems, we have demonstrated that variable disk emission by the dust produced in the aftermaths of planetesimal impacts provides very diagnostic information about these violent events.Through our dedicated Spitzer monitoring campaign, we have identified multiple violent impacts in the 35-Myr-old NGC 2547-ID8 system, involving large (>100 km) asteroid-sized bodies. Our high-quality infrared light curves detail the amount of freshly generated dust during the post-impact evolution. The extraordinary photometry precision, high cadence and long baseline observations provided by Spitzer enable detailed documenting these violent events, and provide unique observational insights into the processes of terrestrial planet formation. We propose to continue monitoring this iconic variable debris system to fully test the impact hypothesis. The knowledge we learn from this system provides the template for studies of other variable systems, leaving a long-term legacy value.
- Publication:
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Spitzer Proposal
- Pub Date:
- March 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019sptz.prop14238S