Hubble Movie Captures Protoplanetary Collision in the Fomalhaut Star System (VIDEO)

University of Arizona

Caption

This video simulates what astronomers, studying Hubble Space Telescope observations, consider evidence for the first-ever detection of the aftermath of a titanic planetary collision in another star system. The color-tinted Hubble image on the left is of a vast ring of icy debris encircling the star Fomalhaut, located 25 light-years away. The animated diagram on the right is a simulation of the expanding and fading cloud, based on Hubble observations taken over a period of several years.

Credit

NASA, ESA, and A. Gáspár and G. Rieke (University of Arizona)

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