Scientists are offering a new theory on the Fermi Paradox. They said that killer moons could be colliding with their host planets, taking out extraterrestrial life that might be present.
The new study, titled "Consequences of Dynamically Unstable Moons in Extrasolar Systems" published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Sciences, suggests that exomoons that revolve around exoplanets could be crashing into each other on a regular basis and wipes out any chances for life.
Runaway Moons Might Return With a Bang
Jonathan Brande, an astronomer at the University of Kansas who is not part of the study, told Live Science that exomoons could be plentiful in exoplanet systems although scientists have yet to detect any as of now.
Theorists, like astronomer Brad Hansen from the University of California, Los Angeles, the study's author, have become interested in studying how exomoons and their host planets interact and how they might affect the possibility of life in distant star systems.
As Live Science reports, gravity has been a key factor in the relationship between a planet and its moons. For example, scientists noticed that the Earth's moon is moving an inch farther away from the planet and its orbit is growing larger every year. At the same time, the Earth is spinning slower in the past years as it gives its angular momentum to the Moon's orbit.
Scientists believe that, if this continues, the Moon could eventually become unbound from the Earth. But this process would be so long that the Sun would explode first before that happens.
On the other hand, some exoplanets may be in this situation now as their unstable moons could collide with them. The team's simulations show that moons that wandered away from their host planets usually return with a bang that creates huge dust clouds that glow in infrared as they are illuminated by the star's light. It could take at least 10,000 years before it fades away.
Setback for Finding Extraterrestrial Life
Observations from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer satellite observatory show that every star will experience one of these events at some point in its existence. Hansen said that it is possible that these dust emissions are caused by collisions between planets and their moons.
Since these dust storms are so brief, astronomers have only seen approximately a dozen of them. Some astronomers are still skeptical that these dust clouds are caused by exomoons, arguing that they may be caused by collisions between two planets.
In any case, further observations are needed to identify the function of exomoons in exoplanet development and whether these encounters may affect extraterrestrial life. But if it is true, Futurism reports that it could be a setback to potentially finding extraterrestrial life since moons are an essential factor in fostering a livable climate.
Hansen noted that moons are often considered helpful because they help stabilize the axis of a planet, allowing for more stable climates and seasons that are best suited for life to survive
Brande added that a collision between killer exomoons and exoplanets is not the best result in the search for extraterrestrial life, but it is nonetheless still worth knowing.
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