During the invasion, the “violator” caused disturbances in the protoplanetary disk of the “victim” and pulled out some of the dust and gas from it, creating an extended tail. The double star Z Canis Major, which was “attacked”, is located at 3750 sv. years from the Earth, and the age is estimated at 300 thousand years.
Similar perturbations seen in its protoplanetary disk have been observed before, but they were likely caused by the components of the evolving system themselves, and not by other stars.
The recorded event made astronomers think about how this interaction could affect the future of the Z Canis Major double star and the formation of planets in its system.
