A research team led by an ethnic Korean scientist has discovered a new dust-ringed star 300 light years from earth.

The BBC on Wednesday said Song In-seok's team at Hawaii's Gemini Observatory discovered the star "BD+20 307" using the giant Keck and Gemini North telescopes.

Song cited his team's incredible luck in finding the star, comparing it to finding a needle in a haystack.

Quoting astronomers, the report said an unusually thick ring of dust around the star is probably the result of a collision between two small planets under 1,000 years ago, and could hold clues on planet formation.

Researchers believe the collision may have been similar to the impact on earth that formed the moon eons ago.

The star is slightly more massive than the sun and lies in the constellation Aries.

The study appeared in the Thursday edition of Nature magazine.