A vast rotating cloud containing iron, calcium and other metals has been detected surrounding an unidentified object in a distant star system, in what researchers believe is evidence of a violent collision between two planets.
The cloud, spanning approximately 120 million miles, is gravitationally tethered to a body orbiting a sun-like star designated J0705+0612, located roughly 3,000 light-years from Earth.
Scientists have been unable to determine what the object is. Measurements indicate it has a mass several times greater than Jupiter at minimum, leading the US National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab to suggest it could be either a brown dwarf or a low-mass star.
The discovery emerged after astronomers noticed the star, which is more than two billion years old, growing dramatically fainter. Between September 2024 and May 2025, its brightness dropped by a factor of 40.
Professor Nadia Zakamska, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University, said such dimming events are exceptionally rare. She believes the cloud formed following a collision between two planets within the system.
The cloud is currently positioned approximately 1.2 billion miles from the star. Depending on the nature of the object it surrounds, it would be classified as either a circumsecondary or circumplanetary disc — a find NOIRLab described as exceptionally uncommon.
The GHOST instrument aboard the Gemini South telescope in Chile examined the cloud for more than two hours, analysing it through light wavelength patterns. Additional observations came from New Mexico’s Apache Point Observatory and Chile’s Magellan Telescopes, with scientists cross-referencing their findings against historical records of the star.
Professor Zakamska said the sensitivity of the GHOST instrument allowed researchers not only to detect the gas but to measure how it was moving — something never previously achieved in a comparable system.
The finding offers insight into how planetary systems continue to evolve long after their initial formation.
