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NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope provided a rare look at the aftermath of two cosmic collisions — and helped scientists solve a decades-old mystery.
Several years ago, scientists observed a dense, bright spot near a young star called Fomalhaut. They thought it might be a planet and continued tracking it.
But in 2023, Hubble’s pictures revealed something strange. The bright spot had disappeared – and a new one had appeared – a sign that it was not a planet after all.
Scientist Stumbled upon the dusty debris of two cosmic accidents. Giant space rocks collided with each other, creating clouds of dust thick enough to appear as planets. Over time, the remains spread and eventually disappeared completely.
Scientists believe the space rocks involved in the collision were at least 37 miles (60 kilometers) wide. Such clashes are rare to be captured on camera, especially since theories suggest they occur in the same vicinity only once every 100,000 years.
Joshua Lovell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said in an email that it is “highly unexpected” that the region “has now demonstrated two, unique, massive collisions within the space of 20 years.” He had no role in the study, which was published Thursday in the journal Science.
The new observations may be a lucky discovery. Or, they could mean that such events occur more frequently than scientists had thought. More data will be needed to know for sure.
Collisions of large space rocks are essential to how planets like ours form and what they are made of. Studying them is “like taking a child’s picture of our solar system,” said astrophysicist Meredith McGregor. Johns Hopkins Universitywho was not included in the study.
Researchers plan to track the new dust cloud over the coming years to see how it changes and eventually disintegrates.
The star near the collision site is in our cosmic neighborhood, just 25 light years away EarthOne light year is approximately 6 trillion miles,
By tracking this, scientists are “capturing these violent explosions in real time,” said study author Paul Kalas of the University of California, Berkeley.
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