Liputan6.com, Jakarta – The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) captured a plume of gas emanating from a distant comet-like object called Centaur. Scientists call this number phenomenon a burst of primordial gas that emerged from the birth of the solar system.
Launching the Live Science page on Thursday (11/10/2024), this phenomenon provides clues about how centaurs are formed, what makes them up, and how they eventually transition into full-fledged comets. Centaurs once resided in the frozen Kuiper Belt beyond the orbit of Neptune.
However, gravitational interactions with Neptune, pushed some Cantaurs further inward. They orbit the sun between Jupiter and Neptune.
There, the centaurs are under the influence of Jupiter’s orbit which can pull some Centaurs closer to the sun. This turns them into short-period comets that orbit our star in less than 200 years.
In a study published in the journal Nature, Centaurs can be considered remnants of the formation of planetary systems. More than 500 centaurs have been discovered, but astronomers estimate that there may be as many as 10 million Centaurs out there.
One of the most prominent Centaurs is 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1. This space object experiences eruptions every six to eight weeks.
Previous observations with radio waves have shown jets of carbon monoxide gas pointing towards the sun, but the JWST Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) shows much more. NIRSpec revealed a second burst of carbon monoxide (CO) originating from 29P and heading north.
The study also discovered two never-before-seen jets of carbon dioxide (CO2), heading north and south. The cause of this gas release cannot be ascertained.
In ordinary comets, jets of gas form when water ice warms under the heat of the sun, evaporates, and explodes through the surface to form a cometary tail and carry these gases with it. However, JWST found no evidence of water vapor in the plume.
This didn’t surprise the researchers, because 29P is too far from the sun for water ice to sublimate. The detail of the burst suggests the extraordinary conclusion that 29P is not a single object, but rather several objects stuck together.
Such objects are called “contact binaries,” and astronomers are discovering more and more of them. For example, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko visited by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission is a contact binary.
So did Arrokoth, a distant Kuiper Belt object discovered by the New Horizons spacecraft in 2019. Centaur 29P was too far away for even JWST to resolve its nucleus.
But 3D computer modeling of the gas jet’s point of origin shows that the jet came from different locations and that different parts of 29P are made of different materials.
Analysis: Unveiling the Mysteries of the Centaur 29P with James Webb Space Telescope
As I analyze the recent news article about the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) capture of a plume of gas emanating from a distant comet-like object called Centaur 29P, I am struck by the significance of this discovery. The article, published on Liputan6.com on October 11, 2024, sheds light on a phenomenon that scientists describe as a burst of primordial gas from the birth of the solar system [[1]].
According to the article, Centaur 29P, one of the most active objects in the outer solar system, has been observed by the JWST, revealing a plume of gas that provides clues about the formation and evolution of centaurs. These comet-like objects were once part of the frozen Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune’s orbit [[1]]. However, gravitational interactions with Neptune pushed some centaurs inward, resulting in their current orbits between Jupiter and Neptune.
What is fascinating about this discovery is the insight it offers into the transformation of centaurs into short-period comets. The influence of Jupiter’s orbit can pull some centaurs closer to the sun, eventually turning them into comets that orbit our star in less than 200 years [[2]]. This transition not only highlights the dynamic nature of the solar system but also sheds light on the processes that shape the composition of comets.
The JWST’s observations of Centaur 29P have revealed jets of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gas emanating from the object [[2]]. While the exact drivers of these gas jets remain a mystery, the JWST’s detection of these primordial gases provides valuable insights into the formation of our solar system.
Furthermore, these findings resonate with the recent studies published in the journal Nature [[3]]. Although the specific article is not referenced, it is clear that the scientific community is actively investigating the properties and behaviors of centaurs.
The observation of Centaur 29P by the JWST has provided a unique glimpse into the early days of our solar system. As researchers continue to unravel the mysteries of these enigmatic objects, we can expect further insights into the history of our cosmic neighborhood.
References:
[[1]]https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/videos/2024/130/01J8QF1EM8EKX4AVZ1EDBW1BR5?keyword=
[[2]]https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-watches-frozen-comet-like-object-shooting-gas-jets
[[3]]https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2024/130/01J85BQBHZFXWJXAN2BGVNNSXW
