Astronomers witness 1st-ever planetesimal collision around a star
Astronomers just spotted something wild: what may be the aftermath of a collision between large planetesimals or planets around a young star called Gaia20ehk, 11,000 light-years away.
The team, led by Anastasios (Andy) Tzanidakis of the University of Washington, says this rare event gives us a front-row seat to how planets might start coming together.
Gaia20ehk has shown weird dips and flickers since 2016
Since 2016, Gaia20ehk has shown weird dips and flickers in its brightness.
These changes occurred before and during an infrared brightening that the team interprets as consistent with a collision.
The event appears to have produced a dust cloud orbiting the star at roughly the same distance as Earth is from the Sun (1 AU).
Helps scientists understand how new worlds could be built
This kind of collision is thought to be similar to what formed our Moon billions of years ago.
Watching it happen now helps scientists understand how new worlds could be built from cosmic debris, right in our own galaxy.