SPACE — Late December and January are excellent times to observe the constellation Orion the Hunter. This constellation is recognized by three bright stars of Orion’s Belt, which form a short straight line.
In 2023, scientists released the latest images from the James Webb Space Telescope of the star-forming Orion Nebula. The Orion Nebula is in fact a “factory” of stars. New stars and planets are forming there.
A new image from the James Webb Telescope shows the interior of the Orion Nebula. The image shows intricate details of dust, gas, stars and protoplanetary disks in the nebula.
The new images also reveal something new and unexpected. There is a planet-sized object floating alone in the nebula. This planet is also often called planet rascala rogue planet not tied to a star.
Astronomers have in fact discovered numerous planets rascal floating in the Milky Way galaxy. However, some objects in the Orion Nebula are a little strange.
The objects floating in the Orion Nebula are binary objects. These objects float in pairs. How could this happen? Astronomers call them Jupiter-Mass Binary Objects, or “JuMBOs.”
Reporting from Earthly sky, current theories about the formation of planets and stars say that such objects should not exist. However, reality speaks differently.
JuMBO, like planets, but not planets
In all, Webb discovered 540 planet-sized objects in the Orion Nebula, which is 1,344 light-years from Earth. The mass of these objects ranges from about the same mass as Jupiter to only 0.6 masses of Jupiter.
Of the 540 objects, JuMBOs are the most interesting. Because the JuMBOs found are not just single objects moving alone in space, but objects in pairs.
Webb mission scientists say the objects are gaseous, similar to the gas giant planet Jupiter. However, technically, they are not planets because they do not orbit a star.
This object has a surface temperature of approximately 1,000 degrees Celsius. This object is also quite young on a cosmic scale. It is estimated to be only about a million years old.
Although these objects are paired, they are actually not very close to each other. In each binary system, or JuMBO, objects orbit each other and are separated by about 200 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Each orbit takes 20,000 years to complete.
How was JuMBO formed?
Physical theory states that such objects are unlikely to form on their own in open space far from any stars. One theory is that the object formed in a region of the nebula where there wasn’t enough material to form larger stars.
2024-01-01 23:30:00
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