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Scientists believe that the reason why Jupiter is the biggest planet in the solar system is because it swallowed up a smaller rival after collision.

The measurements of Jupiter’s core have revealed that it weighs ten times, at most, that of our own planet. Scientists have claimed that the planet’s core may have been vaporized in huge collision with a planet up to ten times the size of Earth, according to a study in New Scientist.

Douglas Lin at the University of California said that if only the smaller planet did not crashed into Jupiter it would have continued to grow into a giant planet.

“It may very well have been on its way to becoming a gas giant, but lost the race and got gobbled up,” he told New Scientist.

Ressearchers from Peking University in China modeled what might have taken place in the wake of the collision. Their simulation showed that the incoming planet would have been flattened as it hit Jupiter’s atmosphere.

Heavy elements in the core such as metals would have been vaporized and then mixed with hydrogen and helium in the planet’s atmosphere. Scientists believe that this might explain why Jupiter’s core is so small but its atmosphere is extremely dense.