【英语时差8,16】假想地球与其他行星发生碰撞

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Don: I'm worried, Yaël.

 

Yaël: What about?

 

D: Well, this might sound kinda paranoid, but what if the Earth collided with another  planet?

 

Y: You're really worried about that?

 

D: We do a science show, and everyday we're learning about strange things that nobody  knew about before, so yeah, it's crossed my mind.

 

Y: OK. Well, since the planets of our solar system have been in their fixed¹ orbits for  billions of years, it seems unlikely that we'd suddenly collide with Venus or Mars.

 

D: I know, but scientists at UCLA and Tennessee State University noticed a strange ring  of debris² and dust orbiting a star. They thought at first that the star was young---only a few million years old---but then realized that it was billions of years old, like our sun.

 

Y: OK, so?

 

D: So given the star's age and the distance of all that dust and debris from the star, that  stuff should have coalesced³ into planets by now or been blown away into space. So  the theory is that the debris was caused when two planets collided and blew each other to bits.

 

Y: Wow. So if that's true, then it means that it's possible for planets in a stable solar system to somehow get off track and run into each other. Scary thought.

 

D: Yep. Actually, many scientists think that when the earth was about a million years  old, it collided with a body about the size of Mars, and that the resulting debris came  to form our moon.

 

Y: Interesting. So if we're ever struck by another planet, maybe Earth will get another  moon.

 

D: Maybe, but nobody would be around to see it.  

 

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