Bad Astronomy | Two colliding protoplanets make a huge dust cloud

In a planet-forming disk of gas and dust around a young, nearby star, two huge objects recently collided at high speed. The colossal impact was positively apocalyptic in size, vaporizing enough material to make a small planet — at least. Even better, the huge dust cloud created in the event passed between us and the star, eclipsing it twice, allowing astronomers to learn more about this catastrophe.

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