As of: February 2, 2024, 12:12 p.m
By: Tanja Banner
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JuMBOs, binary objects the size of Jupiter, have been found in the Orion Nebula.
Her identity remains a mystery that researchers are trying to solve.
Mexico City – Two researchers from the European Space Agency (ESA) made an unexpected discovery in the Orion Nebula last fall.
They found JuMBOs, an abbreviation for “Jupiter Mass Binary Objects” (translated roughly: “binary objects the size of Jupiter”).
“The JuMBOs are pairs of planet-like objects that float alone through space without being bound to any stars,” as study author Pearson explained to
fr.de
from IPPEN.MEDIA after the discovery.
What are JuMBOs?
To this day the mystery has not been solved
What exactly the JuMBOs were was unclear when they were discovered - and remains unclear to this day.
However, another research team has found initial clues.
Are they planets or a whole new type of object smaller than brown dwarfs?
The research team led by Luis Rodríguez from the National Autonomous University of Mexico cannot present a solution.
But at least the team has new data that takes the research a little further.
The Orion Nebula (M42) is home to a star-forming region – and numerous “JuMBOs” that a research team has newly discovered.
(Archive image) © imago/StockTrek Images
Rodríguez and his team examined the binary objects using radio astronomy.
Each celestial body emits different radio waves - and a closer look at them could help identify the objects, the research team theorizes.
Radio waves from JuMBO 24 remain constant – a mystery
But in the archival data of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in the USA, the research team could only find recorded data from one of the many objects discovered.
Only JuMBO 24 - an even more unusual object than the others - emitted radio waves.
JuMBO 24 is the most massive of the discovered objects and has the smallest distance between its two parts.
The team analyzed a decade's worth of radio data and found that the radio waves remained consistently strong, at a frequency of six to ten gigahertz.
The radio waves were also not circularly polarized, meaning they did not have spiral fields that rotated, according to the study,
published in
The Astrophysical Journal Letters .
The Orion Nebula can be found in the striking winter constellation Orion.
It represents the “sword” hanging from the “belt”.
On clear nights the fog can be seen with the naked eye.
(Archive image) © imago images/StockTrek Images
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Researchers rule out brown dwarfs, pulsars and aliens
While the signals don't tell the research team what type of celestial body it is, they do give a clue to what it probably isn't: planets.
Scientists would expect a different signal from planets - the radio waves from exoplanets observed so far are more variable and less strong than the signal observed.
Brown dwarfs and pulsars can be excluded by the research team due to the radio waves.
The research team is very sure that the radio signal received actually comes from JuMBO 24: According to the researchers, the probability that the radio waves come from an object behind JuMBO 24 is only 1:10,000.
The research team also rules out the possibility that the signal came from an extraterrestrial intelligence.
Rodríguez also explains why to the
Live Science
portal : “The fact that both components emit to a similar extent speaks for a natural mechanism.”
It seems as if further research is needed to find out more about the JuMBOs and unravel their secret.
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