Astronomers discover a huge expanding debris cloud from two colliding protoplanets!

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.