When Worlds Collide: A New Discovery

The initial observations of this awe-inspiring event came from the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) project. This network of telescopes alerted Matthew Kenworthy, an astronomer at the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, about the near-total dimming of a sun-like star, designated ASASSN-21qj. Now, such dimming could be caused by various phenomena, but what piqued Kenworthy's interest was that this star had also shown a sudden increase in brightness about two and a half years earlier. A connection seemed likely, prompting him to investigate further.