Space and Astronomy News 14th March 2026

Do planets ever collide?

Looks like astronomers have spotted the signs of exoplanets colliding

Collisions between celestial bodies have been known about for some time. On a large scale, we've observed black holes colliding or merging that send out massive gravitational waves across the Universe and are observed by detectors such as LIGO. Locally, we see signs of rocky bodies impacting on the Moon and the Earth and even Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 breaking apart and slamming into Jupiter in 1994.

They were large-scale impacts early in the Solar System. The Moon is thought to the result of a proto-planet called Theia hitting the Earth some 4.5 billion years ago. As planetary systems around stars move past their early formation period, such large-scale impacts become rare. It's been a long time since anything like this has occurred in the Solar System, which from our point of view isn't a bad thing!

If they were happening among planets around other stars, would we be able observe them today?

Astronomer Andy Tzanidakis from the University of Washington was combing through light curves of the star Gaia20ehk about 11,000 light years away in the constellation of Puppis in the southern sky when he noticed something strange. This is main sequence star and considered to be quite stable. 

“The star’s light output was nice and flat, but starting in 2016 it had these three dips in brightness. And then, right around 2021, it went completely bonkers,” said Tzanidakis. 

“I can’t emphasize enough that stars like our sun don’t do that. So when we saw this one, we were like ‘Hello, what’s going on here?’”

What seems to be happening was large quantities of dust and rocks passing in front of Gaia20ehk causing its light to dip and fluctuate. They were traced back to likely major impacts between rocky planets orbiting their host star.

Star Gaia20ehk in Pupis, seen here in the centre of the orange crosshairs in the inset image. Image via NASA/NSF NOIRLab

“It’s incredible that various telescopes caught this impact in real time,” Tzanidakis said. “There are only a few other planetary collisions of any kind on record, and none that bear so many similarities to the impact that created the Earth and moon. If we can observe more moments like this elsewhere in the galaxy, it will teach us lots about the formation of our world.”

What's also exciting about this unique discovery is that it points to way to track and observe other collisions between exoplanets, with it likely forming a basis for observations with the newly-commissioned Vera C. Rubin Observatory. More on this exciting announcement here.

We've changed the orbit of an asteroid!

Not just the asteroid's moon, but the entire system

You might remember a little while ago the NASA DART mission impacted the "moon" Dimorphos, (just over 160m in diameter) which orbits the larger asteroid Didymos and changed it path. This was done as a demonstration of a possible planetary defense system in case a large body heads directly towards Earth. 

Hubble Space Telescope image of the  Didymos-Dimorphos asteroid system a few days after the DART impact. Image via NASA, ESA, Jian-Yang Li (PSI), Joe Depasquale (STScI)

Now follow up observations have found that the entire system has had its orbit around the Sun changed by the DART impact. This is the first time that humans have altered the orbit of any celestial body. While DART only whacked into Dimorphos, as the two bodies are gravitationally bound, it has changed the obits of both of them.

“This is a tiny change to the orbit, but given enough time, even a tiny change can grow to a significant deflection,” said Thomas Statler, lead scientist for solar system small bodies at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The team’s amazingly precise measurement again validates kinetic impact as a technique for defending Earth against asteroid hazards and shows how a binary asteroid might be deflected by impacting just one member of the pair.”

Impacts on Earth by rocky bodies are rare but do happen. Having tools to move incoming threats even by a small amount might help avoid catastrophic damage. 

Read more via the NASA article here.

Site for the first Chinese astronauts on land on the Moon narrowed down 

Ever heard of  Rimae Bode?

While NASA is pushing ahead with an aggressive timeline to return humans to the surface of the Moon around 2028, China has its own plans for a mission to land sometime in 2030. 

There's been much discussion about a landing near the Moon's south pole where water ice and other resources might be found, this has issue with communications and navigation. Researchers have now identified a region called Rima Bode, much closer to the Moon's equator, for the first China crewed landing.

The Rima Bode crater region on the Moon. Image via NASA

"Rima Bode is a high priority ‘sweet spot,’” says Jun Huang, a planetary geologist at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan and co-author of the new study. “Think of it as a prime piece of lunar real estate: its location near the equator provides much flatter, safer terrain for landing, along with constant sunlight for power [during the lunar day] and a direct line of sight to Earth for easy communication.”

The crater region contains impacts and features that range in age from 4.07 billion years to as young as 510 million years and is rich in geological features.

And yes, you should be able to spot this area with at least a 6 or 8 inch aperture telescope.  Here's where you'll find it - 

The red star indicates where Rima Bode is located. Image via Nature Astronomy

Read more about this possible landing site here.

And finally for this week, Artemis II has a new launch date: April 1st 2026

Hydrogen fuel leaks and helium fuel system leaks now fixed

Astronomy and space nerds have been keenly waiting on the launch of Artemis II, the first spaceflight to return humans to the Moon since 1972.

Artemis II. Image via Cristóbal Herrera/EPA

NASA announced this week that system problems which have delayed the launch of Artemis II over the last couple of months have now been resolved. A projected launch date of the 1st of April 2026 US time is now planned. (Yes, I know....going to be a lot of comments about that one)

Fingers crossed no further delays occur! 

Cheers,

Earl White 

BINTEL

14th March 2026

PS: Happy Pi Day!