US EditionHubble Space Telescope spies dusty debris from two cosmic collisions
Hubble observed two rare collisions of planetesimals, roughly 60 km wide, in the Fomalhaut system, challenging theories that such impacts occur only once every 100,000 years.
- December 18, 2025: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope recorded the aftermath of two cosmic collisions around Fomalhaut, with findings published in Science.
- An international team found that two planetesimal collisions created expanding dust clouds, including Fomalhaut cs1 and Fomalhaut cs2, resolving the long-standing disappearing Fomalhaut b mystery.
- From the cloud size, researchers estimate the impactors were around 30 kilometers in diameter, and theory suggests such collisions are rare in the same vicinity.
- An approved JWST follow-up program using NIRCam will measure the debris' color and composition, while researchers plan monitoring in the coming years to observe its evolution and disintegration.
- Detecting two events within two decades enables researchers to estimate collision timescales and provides a rare laboratory to study planetesimals and planet formation processes, cautioning direct-imaging searches and future missions.
68 Articles
68 Articles
Astronomers Just Watched Asteroids Slam Into Each Other. This Is What They Saw.
Fomalhaut is a young, nearby star. It’s only 25 light-years away and 440 million years old. As a celestial youngin’, it’s still surrounded by the cosmic junk left over from its formation. Hence, it’s surrounded by a wide debris disk full of raw material that might someday become planets. Still, for now, thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers were able to witness large asteroids smashing into each other. It sounds like the kind of thin…
The Hubble Witnesses Catastrophic Collisions In The Fomalhaut System
For the first time, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have spotted a pair of catastrophic collisions in another solar system. They were observing Fomalhaut, a bright star about 25 light-years away, and detected a pair of planetesimal collisions and their light-reflecting dust clouds. The system is young, and the collisions reflect what our Solar System was like when it was young.
In the star Fomalhaut, a supposed planet turned out to be a dust cloud after a collision. Hubble data correct the finding.
Cosmic Collision Caught on Camera
With the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) continuing to grab headlines, it’s easy to forget the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is still zipping around Earth, monitoring the stars. First launched in 1990, the telescope has witnessed quite a bit in its 35-year life, and recently, it captured a never-before-seen astronomical event—the aftermath of two cosmic collisions. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . An internat…
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