Synestia:
There’s something new to look for in the heavens, and it’s called a “synestia,” according to planetary scientists Simon Lock at Harvard University and Sarah Stewart at the University of California, Davis. A synestia, they propose, would be a huge, spinning, donut-shaped mass of hot, vaporized rock, formed as planet-sized objects smash into each other. [“Synestia, a New Type of Planetary Object,” Andy Fell, UCDavis]
Noted in “Afterglow of cataclysmic collision between two planets seen for first time,” The Guardian:
After a detailed analysis of the observations, the astronomers concluded that the blast of infrared radiation came from a hot new object or “synestia” created by the collision of two planets nearly as large as Neptune. Based on the infrared readings, the vast spinning object had a temperature of more than 700C for about three years. It will eventually cool and form a new planet around the star.
