There has been no shortage of proposed explanations that have been put forth in order to account for the unusual observations, from the more mundane ones which include the presence of cometary fragments and large disk of debris
from planetary collisions within the star system, to the more imaginative and fascinating ones which have invoked the presence of an extraterrestrial super-civilisation that is in the process of constructing gigantic megastructures around the star itself.
This animation shows a chaotic solar system and changing planetary orbits playing out over billions of years, illustrating the slight chance in the distant future
of planetary collisions.
Of course, if you are an atheist you could also understand that if an asteriod were to strike our planet today, we could see it as a judgement of the merits of humanity in the sense of humanities ability to pay attention to the things that it should pay attention to in order to survive a
catastrophic planetary collision.
Other theories
involve planetary collisions that knock worlds off course or simply a large mass of materiallike an asteroid that jumps aboard and, by its mass and impact, tilts the once - flat orbit.
So this makes their detection more probable than one - off events
like planetary collisions or never observed events like swarms of comet fragments.
Taking the time and energy to put myself in my husband's place — and check out the view from Mars — is the only way to avoid
near planetary collision.
Meteorites with dark veins and blobs, like the sample above, experienced high heat when the blast from
the planetary collision that formed the moon hit the asteroid belt 4.47 billion years ago.
Uranus rotates on its side, probably because of
a planetary collision.
No country is safe from
planetary collisions that erase cities, though they only seem to wipe out those locations that Bay was allowed to shoot in previously.
For the last century, filmmakers have explored countless apocalyptic scenarios on screen, with everything from natural disasters (2012) to
planetary collisions (Melancholia), and technological advancement (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) to nuclear warfare (The Sum of All Fears) seen as catalysts for the destruction of humanity.
Scientists from Rice University have a possible answer:
a planetary collision 4.4 billion years ago.