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HOUSTON - A collision between giant asteroids likely occurred in a neighboring star system called Beta Pictoris in recent years, and two different space observatories are helping to tell the tale. The Beta Pictoris system, located just 63 light-years from Earth, has long intrigued astronomers because of its proximity and age. While our solar system is estimated to be about 4.

5 billion years old, Beta Pictoris is considered a “teenage planetary system” at 20 million years old, said astronomer Christine Chen, a research scientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who has observed the system multiple times. “That means that it is still forming,” she said during a presentation at the 244th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Madison, Wisconsin, on June 10. “It’s a partially formed planetary system, but it’s not done yet.



” Chen observed Beta Pictoris, which has two known gas giant planets called Beta Pictoris b and c, using the now retired Spitzer Space Telescope in 2004 and 2005. At the time, Chen and her colleagues saw several different populations of dust within the system. “So I was super excited to reobserve this system in 2023 using the James Webb Space Telescope,” Chen said.

“And I was really hoping to understand the planetary system in much greater detail, and we are definitely doing that.” Since Webb opened its infrared eye on the universe in 2022, scientists have been utilizing the space observatory to peer through gas and dust .

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