This video simulates the first-ever detection of the aftermath of a planetary collision in another star system. The color-tinted Hubble image on the left is of a vast ring of icy debris encircling the star Fomalhaut, located 25 light-years away. The animated diagram on the right is a simulation of the expanding and fading cloud of the collision’s debris field. It’s based on Hubble observations taken over a period of several years.

Video Credit: NASA / ESA / A. Gáspár and G. Rieke (University of Arizona)