The leadership of the new project has delegated the task of identifying these “planets” to theorists. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have discovered “planets” adrift in space, not belonging to any star system. The data indicates that two peculiar celestial bodies move in pairs, leaving astronomers puzzled and unable to provide an explanation.
These twin objects have been dubbed Jupiter Mass Binary Objects (abbreviated as JuMBO). According to speculation, these entities originated in a region of space where the density of matter wasn’t sufficient to form a complete star.
Some researchers suggest that these are planets that were ejected from their own star systems due to physical interactions. Professor Mark McCaughrean, a senior scientific advisor at the European Space Agency (ESA), acknowledges that the hypothesis of planets being expelled from star systems is widely accepted.
The JuMBO celestial pair.
“The physical interaction of gas suggests that objects with a mass equivalent to Jupiter cannot self-form, and we already know how a single planet can be ejected from a star system. But how do you eject a pair of stars? We currently have no answer. This is a field for theorists,” Mr. McCaughrean remarked.
Professor McCaughrean leads an effort to survey the Orion Nebula, an emission nebula located in the Orion constellation, which is the largest known star-forming region closest to Earth. Apart from the central quadruple star system known as the Trapezium, the Orion Nebula, designated as M42, can be observed with the naked eye, even though it’s approximately 1,400 light-years away from Earth.
Using advanced infrared sensors, astronomers continuously observed M42 for over a week, capturing around 700 images. These images were synthesized to create a panoramic view of a vast region so large that it would take more than four years for light to traverse it as depicted in the pictures.
This region includes thousands of young stars of various sizes, ranging from stars up to 40 times the mass of the Sun to objects as small as 0.1 times the mass of our own star.
Among these, many stars are obscured by massive accretion disks containing gas and dust. Some of these stars are in the process of formation, while others are being disrupted by ultraviolet radiation and interstellar winds from nearby stars, especially those within the Trapezium cluster.
The Orion Nebula captured in short wavelength (on the left) and long wavelength (on the right).
The images reveal the same nebula displayed in both long and short wavelengths of light. The difference in colors indicates different elements present in the Orion Nebula.
In the long-wavelength version, clusters of green gas indicate the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), compounds commonly found in space and produced by stars.
Additionally, red rays emanating from one side represent a flow of material spewing from the Orion Molecular Cloud 1, showcasing an enormous amount of hydrogen expelled due to the energy generated from the collision of two stars. The material is moving at a velocity of up to 100 km/s, suggesting that this collision event occurred only a few hundred years ago (in local time). The peak of the material flow exhibits a hint of green, indicating the presence of iron in gaseous form.
Within this extensive and highly detailed 21,000 x 14,500-pixel image, the JuMBO pair stands out as an exceptional discovery. According to Professor Heidi Hammel, who worked within the framework of the Webb Telescope project but was not involved in the new research, this event has no precedent. Simulation models have never shown the possibility of a pair of planets being ejected from a star system.
As mentioned by Professor Mark McCaughrean above, since the peculiar phenomenon cannot be explained at this time, the task will have to be passed on to the imagination of theorists. These twin objects could either be a pair of planets defying the laws of physics or eventually become unidentified objects in Earth’s future skies.