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Did We Just Witness a Real-Life Moon Birth?

2026-04-03 Science & Technology
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Anton Petrov
Anton Petrov
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Support this channel on Patreon to help me make this a full time job: https://www.patreon.com/whatdamath (Unreleased videos, extra footage, DMs, no ads) Alternatively, PayPal donations can be sent here: http://paypal.me/whatdamath Get a Wonderful Person Tee: https://teespring.com/stores/whatdamath More cool designs are on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3QFIrFX Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about an unusual collision detected in another star system that resembled the one that created the Moon Links: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae3ddc/pdf Other videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlKRK_U3j0M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjcgP9y6usQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpTfXn-ff8Y #moon #easy #astronomy 0:00 Exciting discovery of a blinking star 0:45 How this was found - Gaia observations and bizarre flickering 3:35 What happened here? 4:20 Why this is so exciting (GAIA-GIC-1) 6:00 Previous collisions 8:30 Why this matters for astronomy 10:30 What's next? Conclusions Enjoy and please subscribe Bitcoin/Ethereum to spare? Donate them here to help this channel grow! bc1qnkl3nk0zt7w0xzrgur9pnkcduj7a3xxllcn7d4 or ETH: 0x60f088B10b03115405d313f964BeA93eF0Bd3DbF The hardware used to record these videos: New Camera: https://amzn.to/4pCVINS CPU: https://amzn.to/4qXIaxC Video Card: https://amzn.to/2M1W26C Motherboard: https://amzn.to/2JYGiQQ RAM: https://amzn.to/2Mwy2t4 PSU: https://amzn.to/2LZcrIH Case: https://amzn.to/2MwJZz4 Microphone: https://amzn.to/2t5jTv0 Mixer: https://amzn.to/2JOL0oF Recording and Editing: https://amzn.to/2LX6uvU Some of the above are affiliate links, meaning I would get a (very small) percentage of the price paid. Thank you to all Patreon supporters of this channel Special thanks also goes to all the wonderful supporters of the channel through YouTube Memberships Credit: Mark Garlick www.markgarlick.com Kate Y. L. Su et al 2019 AJ 157 202 CC BY 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2MASS_J08090250%E2%88%924858172#/media/File:Extreme_Debris_Disk_Variability_-_Exploring_the_Diverse_Outcomes_of_Large_Asteroid_Impacts_During_the_Era_of_Terrestrial_Planet_Formation_-_figure_13.jpg Licenses used: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ and relevant Creative Commons licenses

Top Comments (10)

@matthewjuhlin4628 2026-04-04

When an astronomer says 'it's far", it's very very far. When an astronomer says "it's large", it's mind-bogglingly large. When an astronomer says "it's bonkers"...

53 1 replies
@victorkrawchuk9141 2026-04-03

This is very exciting. We can't be sure that any of these collisions will result in large moons orbiting Earth-like planets, but it surely means that Earth-Moon-like combinations are more common in the universe than we previously thought. In a young star system, any growing trojan that reaches 10% of the mass of its main planet will have its orbit destabilized, and simulations I've done on the public-facing solar system simulator on the University of Colorado website seem to indicate that a collision between the two is a not-uncommon result. Furthermore, the simulated collisions are often close to the 45 degree angle that we think happened with the Earth-Theia collision, and which seems to be one of the conditions for a moon to be created rather than both planets being destroyed. I can't wait for more news on Gaia20ehk, thanks!

27
@Jerry.Cornelius 2026-04-03

The moon may make complex life possible, but bacteria probably wouldn’t notice too much if it wasn’t there.

12 1 replies
@jimcurtis9052 2026-04-03

Wonderful as always Anton. Thank you. ☺

9
@temujinay8831 2026-04-03

this would have been awesome to see with my own eyes.

8
@osmosisjones4912 2026-04-03

Was the hale marry book written before the tabby star case or before and tabby star happened to fit a bio signature

5
@davidmartin4795 2026-04-04

11,600 light‑years away! So now we just have to wait 3.5 billion years to see i life develops.

5
@FrikInCasualMode 2026-04-04

That's why when someone derisively asks "Who would want to live forever?" - I answer: "I do!" I want to see events like this with my own eyes. Planets being born. Life blooming on them. Glory of a night sky near the center of a galaxy.

4 2 replies
@LeafyPhysicist 2026-04-04

8:45 I would say that rather than the Moon being necessary for life on Earth at all, it has helped stabilize Earth to create the conditions for long-term evolution into **complex** life. This is of course just a guess, but the things the Moon does for Earth mainly keeps life stable rather than provide the conditions for life in the first place.

3
@miaokuancha2447 2026-04-04

This is amazing and so exciting discovery. Thank you wonderful Anton for bringing it to us on your channel!!

3

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