The extraordinary discovery was made by scientists including Matthew Kenworthy of the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, who described the event as “very spectacular”. Collision published large amount of energytransforming the debris into a star-like object. Although fainter than the system’s parent star, this newly formed celestial body is approximately seven times larger and can be seen throughout the star system.

An impressive discovery

The path to this revolutionary observation began when Kenworthy and his team noticed the mysterious dimming of the star ASASSN-21qj in December 2021. NASA’s Neowise Infrared Space Telescope was then used to investigate this anomaly. Telescope data showed that for 900 days before the star’s extinction, there was a steady increase in infrared radiation in the region around it.

What at first seemed like irrelevant observations gradually evolved into a coherent narrative. The steady infrared glow indicated that an unusual event was occurring near the star. A careful analysis of the telescope’s data led the scientists to conclude that the strong infrared radiation was coming from a newly formed, extremely hot rotating object formed by the collision of two giant planets, each comparable in size to Neptune.

Simon Locke, a researcher from the University of Bristol and a participant in the research, emphasized the rarity of this discovery and said:

This is the first time we’ve seen an afterglow since such an event. We’ve seen debris and disks before, but we’ve never seen the afterglow of a forming planetary body.

Astronomers plan to continue observations in this region to confirm their assumptions about the events developing in the star system. Kenworthy predicts that if the dust cloud remains in orbit around the star, it will move away from the star in the next 5 to 10 years.

This change will potentially allow astronomers to collect light reflected from dust particles with powerful ground-based telescopes. Additionally, there is the possibility of using NASA’s state-of-the-art James Webb Space Telescope to make further observations in this region, which will allow us to better understand these celestial events.