Space Stories: More on Planet 9, A Collision with Pluto, and Explaining Free-Floating Planets

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Here are some recent stories of interest.

—IFLScience: “Astronomers Find Evidence Of A Massive Object Beyond The Orbit Of Neptune“

A team of researchers say they have found the “strongest statistical evidence yet that Planet 9 is really out there” in the solar system after studying a population of distant, unstable objects that cross Neptune’s orbit...In a new paper, the team looked at long-period objects that crossed the path of Neptune’s orbit, finding that their closest point of orbit to the sun was around 15-30 astronomical units (AU), with one AU being the distance between the sun and the Earth.

—CNN: “Pluto Gained a ‘Heart’ After Colliding with a Planetary Body“

A huge heart-shaped feature on the surface of Pluto has intrigued astronomers since NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft captured it in a 2015 image. Now, researchers think they have solved the mystery of how the distinctive heart came to be — and it could reveal new clues about the dwarf planet’s origins…an international team of scientists has determined that a cataclysmic event created the heart. After an analysis involving numerical simulations, the researchers concluded a planetary body about 435 miles (700 kilometers) in diameter, or roughly twice the size of Switzerland from east to west, likely collided with Pluto early in the dwarf planet’s history.

—University of Nevada: “Astronomers Offer New Model for Formation of Recently Discovered ‘Free-floating’ Planets“

The recent discovery of a potential new class of distant and mysterious “free-floating” planets has intrigued astronomers since stunning new images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope were shared late last year. These candidate planets, known as Jupiter-mass Binary Objects (JuMBOs), seem to orbit one another as they float freely in space unbound to any star—which counters prevailing theories of how planetary systems were thought to work. Now, a new study by a team of astrophysicists from UNLV and Stony Brook University, published April 19 in the journal Nature Astronomy, introduces a compelling model for how these JuMBOs may have formed.

Pic of the Week: Tightly Bound Herbig-Haro 46/47

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Image (Credit): JWST view of actively forming stars known as Herbig-Haro 46/47. (NASA, ESA, CSA)

This week’s image, released last year, is from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It shows two forming stars in what is called Herbig-Haro 46/47.

Here is a full explanation of what you are seeing from NASA:

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a tightly bound pair of actively forming stars, known as Herbig-Haro 46/47, in high-resolution near-infrared light. Look for them at the center of the red diffraction spikes. The stars are buried deeply, appearing as an orange-white splotch. They are surrounded by a disk of gas and dust that continues to add to their mass.

Herbig-Haro 46/47 is an important object to study because it is relatively young – only a few thousand years old. Stars take millions of years to fully form. Targets like this also give researchers insight into how stars gather mass over time, potentially allowing them to model how our own Sun, a low-mass star, formed.

The two-sided orange lobes were created by earlier ejections from these stars. The stars’ more recent ejections appear in a thread-like blue, running along the angled diffraction spike that covers the orange lobes.

Actively forming stars ingest the gas and dust that immediately surrounds them in a disk (imagine an edge-on circle encasing them). When the stars “eat” too much material in too short a time, they respond by sending out two-sided jets along the opposite axis, settling down the star’s spin, and removing mass from the area. Over millennia, these ejections regulate how much mass the stars retain.

Don’t miss the delicate, semi-transparent blue cloud. This is a region of dense dust and gas, known as a nebula. Webb’s crisp near-infrared image lets us see through its gauzy layers, showing off a lot more of Herbig-Haro 46/47, while also revealing a deep range of stars and galaxies that lie far beyond it. The nebula’s edges transform into a soft orange outline, like a backward L along the right and bottom.

The blue nebula influences the shapes of the orange jets shot out by the central stars. As ejected material rams into the nebula on the lower left, it takes on wider shapes, because there is more opportunity for the jets to interact with molecules within the nebula. Its material also causes the stars’ ejections to light up.

Over millions of years, the stars in Herbig-Haro 46/47 will fully form – clearing the scene.

Space Stories: Oxygen Issues on Europa, the Puzzling Expansion Rate of the Universe, and Mini Moon-Bound Rovers

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Image (Credit): Europa as captured by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft. (NASA/JPL/Ted Stryk)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—The Columbian: “Europa Might Have Less Oxygen Than Expected“

New research suggests there’s less oxygen on the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa than thought — and that could affect what, if any, life might be lurking in the moon’s underground ocean. Even with little or no oxygen, microbes might still be bustling around in the ocean believed to exist miles beneath Europa’s frozen crust. As for what else, “who knows,” said NASA scientist Kevin Hand, who was not involved in the study published Monday in Nature Astronomy.

—Webbtelescope.org: “NASA’s Webb, Hubble Telescopes Affirm Universe’s Expansion Rate, Puzzle Persists“

The best measurements from Hubble show the universe is now expanding faster than predicted based on observations of how it looked shortly after the big bang. These observations were made by the Planck satellite mapping of the cosmic microwave background radiation – sort of a blueprint for how the universe would evolve structure after it cooled down from the big bang. The simple solution to the dilemma is to say that maybe Hubble observations are wrong due to some creeping inaccuracy in its deep-space yardstick. Then along came the James Webb Space Telescope to crosscheck Hubble’s results. Webb’s sharp infrared views of Cepheids agreed with Hubble data. Webb confirmed that the Hubble telescope’s keen eye was right all along.

—NASA JPL: “NASA’s Network of Small Moon-Bound Rovers Is Ready to Roll“

A trio of small rovers that will explore the Moon in sync with one another are rolling toward launch. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California recently finished assembling the robots, then subjected them to a punishing series of tests to ensure they’ll survive their jarring rocket ride into space and their travels in the unforgiving lunar environment. Part of a technology demonstration called CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration), each solar-powered rover is about the size of a carry-on suitcase.

Pic of the Week: Spiral galaxy NGC 1300

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Image (Credit): JWST’s view of spiral galaxy NGC 1300. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), and the PHANGS team)

This week’s image is from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It shows a face-on view of spiral galaxy NGC 1300, which is 69 million light-years away.

Here is more about the image from NASA:

Webb’s image of NGC 1300 shows a face-on barred spiral galaxy anchored by its central region, which is circular and shows a bright white point at the center with a light yellow circle around it. The central core is tiny compared to the rest of the galaxy. The core extends into the galaxy’s prominent diagonal bar structure, which is filled with a blue haze of stars. Orange dust filaments cross the bar, extending diagonally to the top and bottom, connecting the yellow circle in the central core to the galaxy’s spiral arms. There are two distinct orange spiral arms made of stars, gas, and dust that start at the edges of the bar and rotate counterclockwise. Together, the arm and bars form a backward S shape. The spiral arms are largely orange, ranging from dark to bright orange. Scattered across the packed scene are very few bright blue pinpoints of light. There are vast areas between where the orange spiral arms wrap that appear black. The top left and bottom right edges are dark black and there are some larger red and blue points of light, some that appear like disks seen from the side.

Space Stories: Biomolecules on Mars, a “Dead” Galaxy, and the Most Distant Galaxies

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Image (Credit): Image of Mars captured by the NASA Mars Global Surveyor MOC wide angle cameras. (NASA)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—Tohoku University: “Biomolecules from Formaldehyde on Ancient Mars“

Organic materials discovered on Mars may have originated from atmospheric formaldehyde, according to new research, marking a step forward in our understanding of the possibility of past life on the Red Planet. Scientists from Tohoku University have investigated whether the early atmospheric conditions on Mars had the potential to foster the formation of biomolecules – organic compounds essential for biological processes. Their findings, published in Scientific Reports, offer intriguing insights into the plausibility of Mars harboring life in its distant past.

—University of Cambridge: “Astronomers Spot Oldest “Dead” Galaxy Yet Observed“

A galaxy that suddenly stopped forming new stars more than 13 billion years ago has been observed by astronomers. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge has spotted a ‘dead’ galaxy when the universe was just 700 million years old, the oldest such galaxy ever observed. This galaxy appears to have lived fast and died young: star formation happened quickly and stopped almost as quickly, which is unexpected for so early in the universe’s evolution. However, it is unclear whether this galaxy’s ‘quenched’ state is temporary or permanent, and what caused it to stop forming new stars.

—Webbtelescope.org: “Webb Unlocks Secrets of One of the Most Distant Galaxies Ever Seen“

Delivering on its promise to transform our understanding of the early universe, the James Webb Space Telescope is probing galaxies near the dawn of time. One of these is the exceptionally luminous galaxy GN-z11, which existed when the universe was just a tiny fraction of its current age. One of the youngest and most distant galaxies ever observed, it is also one of the most enigmatic. Why is it so bright? Webb appears to have found the answer. Scientists using Webb to study GN-z11 have also uncovered some tantalizing evidence for the existence of Population III stars nestled in the outskirts of this remote galaxy. These elusive stars — the first to bring light to the universe — are purely made of hydrogen and helium. No definitive detection of such stars has ever been made, but scientists know they must exist. Now, with Webb, their discovery seems closer than ever before.