Scientists spot unprecedented “cosmic fender bender” in ‘Eye of Sauron’ star system

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Astronomers were looking for a planet around a nearby star, but they witnessed something much more unusual: the powerful collisions of two large, developing planets happening right before their eyes.

Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have witnessed the aftermath of a major collision in the Fomalhaut system, 25 light-years away. They observed glowing clouds of debris created when large rocky objects collided, essentially a “cosmic fender bender.”

Astronomers have, for the first time, directly observed the remains of a massive planetary collision around a star other than our own, according to a study published in Science on December 18th.

A rare double hit in the ‘Eye of Sauron’

Fomalhaut is well-known for being a beautiful star. It has a large ring of dust around it, which people have nicknamed the “Eye of Sauron” because it looks like the fiery eye from the movie The Lord of the Rings.

What scientists observed was much more than just a beautiful sight; astronomers are calling it a truly unique event in space.

In the last twenty years, the team observed two major collisions around the star Fomalhaut, now known as Fomalhaut cs1 and cs2. These impacts involved objects much bigger than the asteroid that caused the dinosaur extinction, creating bright, expanding clouds of dust and debris.

Paul Kalas, who has been observing the star Fomalhaut since 2004, explained to Gizmodo that these kinds of collisions are extremely rare, occurring only about once every 100,000 years.

The first event was initially mistaken for a planet.

Researchers spotted something moving near the star Fomalhaut, initially believed to be a planet called Fomalhaut b, located at the edge of a dust ring. However, questions arose because its movements didn’t quite behave like a typical planet.

By 2013, astronomers noticed its path spreading and fading. Then it disappeared entirely.

Fomalhaut b isn’t a planet after all; it’s actually a growing cloud of dust created by a huge impact. Because of this discovery, NASA removed it from their list of confirmed exoplanets in 2020.

Three years later, history repeated itself.

Another bright point appeared nearby. Same system. Same dust ring. Same explanation.

“A planet can’t just appear out of nowhere,” Kalas said. “But a dust cloud can.”

A cosmic fender bender

In 2023, an event called cs2 occurred, confirming a decades-old theory by Mark Wyatt. He predicted that occasional crashes within debris disks around stars could cause them to briefly become brighter.

Even Wyatt was stunned to see it happen twice.

The chance of seeing two impacts happen so near each other is incredibly rare. This has led scientists to consider if there’s an unknown force causing these events.

Scientists believe there’s a small possibility – around 10% – that the collisions weren’t just chance occurrences, but they don’t think it has anything to do with extraterrestrial life.

The way cs1 and cs2 are positioned and when they appeared hints that an unseen planet might be using gravity to guide debris into each other, causing collisions.

Wang explained to Live Science that planets typically form by pulling in and reshaping nearby space debris. He suggests an undiscovered planet could be responsible for both collisions happening in the same area.

It’s possible Fomalhaut does have a planet, even if we can’t see it directly. Instead of appearing as a clear point of light, it might be influencing a spectacular collision of dust and debris around the star.

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2025-12-22 22:20