Astronomers witness 1st-ever planetesimal collision around a star
NewsBytes | March 13, 2026 2:39 AM CST
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).
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.
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