Colliding Dwarf Planets Created a 'Cat's Tail' 1,000 Astronomical Units Long

The Beta Pictoris system is only about 63 light years away. At only about 23 million years old, it's a sort of analogue for our Solar System when it was much younger. Observations show an elongated dust feature named the 'Cat's Tail' that has puzzled researchers. New research says it's the result of two colliding dwarf planets, something that was sure to have happened in our Solar System when it was young.