Overview
- The study, published March 11 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, interprets Gaia20ehk’s behavior as a strong candidate for a catastrophic collision between two planets.
- Gaia20ehk, about 11,000 light-years away near Puppis, showed three brief dips in 2016 before entering chaotic flickering around 2021.
- Infrared emission rose as visible light dimmed, indicating the obscuring material is hot and glowing in the infrared rather than a change in the star itself.
- The debris appears to orbit near roughly one astronomical unit, echoing models of the Earth–Moon forming impact and raising questions about how common such events are.
- Researchers identified the event by reanalyzing archival, multiwavelength data and say upcoming Rubin Observatory surveys could uncover dozens more, with a rough estimate of about 100 over the next decade.