Revision History

Astronomers at the University of Washington have identified compelling evidence that two planets violently collided around the distant star Gaia20ehk roughly 11,000 light-years from Earth, producing vast clouds of superheated debris that caused the star's light to go "completely bonkers." The discovery, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, joins a small but growing catalog of observed planetary collisions that may illuminate one of the most consequential events in Earth's own history — the giant impact that formed our Moon 4.5 billion years ago.