Centaur is a former trans-Neptunian object that has been moved within Neptune's orbit by the planet's subtle gravitational influence over the past several million years, and could eventually become a short-period comet.
29P/An artist's concept showing the gas release activity of Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 from the side. Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/L. Hustak, STScI.
Centaurs are transitional objects between primitive transsolar system objects and Jupiter-based comets.
Their composition and activity provide fundamental clues about the processes that influence the evolution of and interactions between these small celestial bodies.
“Centaurs are likely part of the remnants of the formation of our planetary system,” said Dr. Sarah Fudge, a researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and American University.
“Because they are stored at very low temperatures, they preserve information about the volatiles of the solar system's early stages.”
“The web really opened the door for us to impressive resolution and sensitivity. When we saw the data for the first time, we were excited. We had never seen anything like this before. I've never had one before.”
use Webb's NIRSpec (near infrared spectrometer) deviceDr. Fudge and colleagues observed 29P/Schwasmann Wachmann 1 (29P for short) is a centaur. known This is because very active, quasi-periodic explosions occur.
29P changes in intensity every six to eight weeks, making it one of the most active objects in the outer solar system.
They discovered a new jet of carbon monoxide and a jet of carbon dioxide gas never before seen, giving new clues about the nature of the centaur's core.
No signs of water vapor were detected in 29P's “atmosphere,” but this may be related to the extremely cold temperatures present on this object.
Based on the data collected by Webb, the researchers created a 3D model of the jet to understand its direction and origin.
Through modeling efforts, they discovered that the jets were emitted from different regions of the centaur's core, even though the nucleus itself could not be resolved by the web.
The angle of the jet suggests that the core may be a collection of separate objects with different compositions. However, other scenarios cannot be ruled out yet.
fudge others. collected data for 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 using Webb's spectrophotographic capabilities. Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/L. Hustak, STScI/S. Faggi, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and American University.
Dr. Jeronimo Villanueva, a researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, said: “The fact that there are such dramatic differences in the abundance of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide across the surface of 29P means that 29P is This suggests that it may be possible.”
“The two parts probably merged to form this centaur, which is a mixture of very different objects that went through separate formation paths.”
“This challenges our ideas about how primitive objects are created and stored in the Kuiper belt.”
The reasons for 29P's brightness outburst and the mechanisms behind its outgassing activity through carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide jets remain two major areas of interest that continue to require further investigation.
In the case of comets, scientists know that their jets are often driven by the release of water gas.
However, Centaur's location means that the nature of its outgassing activity is different from that of comets, as it is too cold for water ice to sublimate.
“We only had time to look at this object once, and it was like a snapshot in time,” said Dr. Adam McKay, a researcher at Appalachian State University.
“I would like to go back and look at 29P over a longer period of time. Is the jet always pointing in that direction? Perhaps there is another carbon monoxide jet that turns on at a different point in the rotation cycle? Is there one?”
“Looking at these jets over time will give us better insight into what is causing these explosions.”
of the team paper Published in a magazine nature.
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S.Fudge others. Inhomogeneous outgassing regions were identified in active centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1. Nat Astronpublished online on July 8, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02319-3
This article is a version of a press release provided by NASA.
Source: www.sci.news
