Astronomers discover metal vapor cloud orbiting invisible object
Astronomers have discovered a massive cloud made of vaporized metals like calcium and iron, orbiting an invisible object near the star J0705+0612, about 3,000 light-years from Earth.
The invisible object must have a mass of at least several times that of Jupiter and might be a gas giant, brown dwarf, or a small star.
Cloud likely formed after 2 planets collided
Led by Johns Hopkins astronomer Nadia Zakamska, the team used the Gemini South telescope's GHOST spectrograph to study the cloud's winds and makeup.
Their research suggests this metal-rich cloud probably formed after two planets collided in this 2-billion-year-old system—a rare find for a system this old, since such disks are more common around younger stars.
When to next study the cloud
No specific future transit date has been reported.
Observations so far have been made by professional astronomers using advanced equipment—the last dimming event lasted about nine months, ending in May 2025, with the cloud sitting about 1.2 billion miles from its star.