Cosmic Discoveries: Asteroids Collide and New Planet Observed

A pair of asteroids have collided around the nearby star Fomalhaut, marking a significant observation in cosmic phenomena. According to New Scientist, astronomers have directly imaged these catastrophic collisions, which has provided insights into the early days of our own solar system.

The Hubble Space Telescope captured the emergence of a new bright spot, known as Fomalhaut cs2, indicating a dust cloud resulting from the collision of two planetesimals, each approximately 60 kilometers in diameter.

Principal investigator Paul Kalas from UC Berkeley expressed surprise at witnessing these events, stating that such collisions were thought to occur only once every 100,000 years. However, two have been observed in just 20 years, suggesting that collisions might be more common around young stars.

Additionally, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope team plans to continue monitoring these events over the next three years to gather more data about the evolving cloud and its implications for planetary formation.

Meanwhile, the James Webb Space Telescope has also made headlines by discovering a lemon-shaped planet, PSR J2322-2650b, the most stretched-out planet observed, which orbits a pulsar. This unusual shape is due to the gravitational pull from the pulsar, creating a world that is predominantly made of helium and molecular carbon, lacking hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.

This finding adds another layer to our understanding of the variety of planetary systems in the universe and the dynamics at play.