James Webb space telescope: Deep insights into a "Jupiter without a star"
Because it's traveling without an interfering star, the James Webb Space Telescope was able to study a solitary, planet-like celestial body in particular detail.
Artistic representation of SIMP 0136
(Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI))
The James Webb Space Telescope has provided unique insights into the composition of an unbound celestial body gliding through space, which may be a hybrid between a planet and a star. The object is called SIMP 0136 and is traveling alone in space about 20 light years away from Earth. Deep in its atmosphere there appear to be clouds of iron, while traces of silicate clouds have been found further up. Even higher up, hot spots were discovered that could be auroras. Other traces in the measurement data may indicate areas of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, writes the responsible research team.
Not an exoplanet and not a star either
SIMP 0136 is actually called SIMP J013656.5+093347 and, according to the research team, is an “unbound object with planetary mass”. Because it does not orbit a star, it is not nominally a planet or exoplanet, but the celestial body is also too small to be a star. It has about 13 times the mass of our Jupiter and could therefore also be a so-called brown dwarf, an intermediate position between a planet and a star. For the analysis with the James Webb Space Telescope, the exact classification is less important; the instrument was able to take advantage of the lack of contamination by a nearby star to analyze the object precisely.
Videos by heise
(Image:Â NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI))
The team used the space telescope to collect thousands of spectral data that covered a complete rotation of the object around itself. The results were impressive, explains study leader Johanna Vos. The data not only revealed a lot about the surface, but also about the composition of the object. For example, it was noticed that the occurrence of molecules such as methane or carbon dioxide differs depending on the region here, and this could also apply to other exoplanets. If you only get one measurement for these, you also have to consider that it is not representative of the entire celestial body. The work is presented in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
(mho)
