Astronomers have been treated to a stunning fireworks display from around a young star called Fomalhaut. The events, detected in 2004 and 2023, represent the first collisions between large objects seen in a planetary system beyond our own. Observing collisions occurring in a young star system like that of Fomalhaut could provide astronomers with a window to the conditions under which our own planet and its siblings formed around the infant sun around 4.6 billion years ago.
