Rare Nasa snap of distant star hides a violent secret – can you spot it

RESEARCHERS have spotted evidence of a debris cloud from a massive cosmic collision.

Scientists estimate that the two objects involved in the space-crash were at least the size of dwarf planets.

NASA/JPL-CaltechAn artist’s rendition of what the debris cloud in front of the distant star looks like[/caption]

Space collisions are common in planet formation – it’s how the Moon was created and developed its orbital relationship with Earth.

This is the first observation of its kind to come from the Spitzer Space Telescope.

“All the cases reported previously from Spitzer have been unresolved, with only theoretical hypotheses about what the actual event and debris cloud might have looked like,” said George Rieke, co-author of the study.

Spitzer began observing this distant area of space in 2015, catching the infrared waves emanating from a ten-million-year-old star called HD 166191.

By setting Spitzer’s sights on infrared activity near HD 166191 scientists were able to spot dust and debris scattered in front of the star. 

When they noticed the volume of debris had increased, researchers realized they had bore witness to the aftermath of a wild cosmic crash. 

“There is no substitute for being an eyewitness to an event,” Rieke said.

And although HD 166191 is 330 light years away, scanning the dust cloud in front of it can tell us a lot about our home world. 

Dr Kate Su, the lead researcher on the project, said “Learning about the outcome of collisions in these systems, we may also get a better idea of how frequently rocky planets form around other stars.”

In spreading the news of the findings, a verified Nasa Twitter account wrote that the crash “set off a chain reaction of impacts between fragments from the first collision and other small bodies in the system, which likely created a significant amount of dust.”

This was one of the Spitzer Space Telescope’s final discoveries as the device was retired in 2020 after over 16 years of operating.

Viewing the distant cosmos will become the responsibility of the James Webb Telescope, a new device 100 times more powerful than the notorious Hubble Telescope.