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Colliding planets

DEC 01, 1966
Dietrick E. Thomsen

The planet Neptune and its satellite Triton may collide with each other in the not too distant astronomical future according to a prediction by Thomas B. McCord of Cal Tech. McCord calculated the history and future of the Neptunian system and concluded that collison (or possibly the breakup of Triton into Saturnian style rings) will occur within 10 to 100 million years. This and other results of the calculation were published in the September issue of The Astronomical Journal [71, 585 (1966)].

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Volume 19, Number 12

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