SPACE — Late December and January are a great time to observe the constellation Orion the Hunter. This constellation is recognized by three bright Orion’s Belt stars, forming a short, straight line.
In 2023, scientists released the latest images from the James Webb Space Telescope of the Orion Nebula which is forming stars. The Orion Nebula is indeed a ‘factory’ of stars. There new stars and planets are being formed.
A new James Webb telescope image 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 often also called a planet roguea rogue planet not bound to a star.
Astronomers have indeed discovered a number of planets rogue floating in the Milky Way galaxy. However, some of the objects in the Orion Nebula are a bit 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 Earth Sky, current theories about the formation of planets and stars say that such objects should not exist. However, the reality speaks otherwise.
JuMBOs, 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. These objects range in mass from about the same as Jupiter to just 0.6 Jupiter masses.
Of the 540 objects, JuMBOs is 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 around 1,000 degrees Celsius. This object is also quite young on a cosmic scale. It is estimated that it is only about one million years old.
Although these objects are paired, they are not actually very close to each other. In each binary, or JuMBO, the objects orbit each other and are separated by about 200 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. Each orbit takes 20,000 years to complete.
How Was JuMBO Formed?
Physics theory says that it is difficult for such objects to form on their own in open space far from any star. One theory is that the object formed in a region of the nebula where there was not enough material to make larger stars.
2024-01-01 23:30:00
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