James Webb telescope may have discovered a never-before-seen substance on Pluto and Titan
A mysterious wavelength of light is missing from dwarf planet Pluto and Saturn’s supersized moon Titan, new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) show observations. Surprising discovery suggests these worlds harbor an unknown molecule not seen anywhere else Solar system the world or exoplanet As yet.
every element or molecules absorb unique wavelengths in the universe electromagnetic radiation. Therefore, one of the main ways astronomers study distant worlds – both inside and out Solar system -is to closely examine the light reflected from them and look for dark “absorption lines” corresponding to the wavelengths of known chemical compounds.
For example, molecular oxygen absorbs light at 230 nanometers, so if a distant exoplanet’s electromagnetic spectrum contains an absorption line at this frequency, researchers can be confident that it has oxygen in its atmosphere, according to a 2021 study.
In a new study, uploaded to preprint server June 11 arXivResearchers analyzed JWST data Pluto And titanFocusing on very short wavelengths that have been relatively unknown until now. This revealed a distinctive absorption line at approximately 5.11 micrometres in the spectra of both worlds. (These findings have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.)
The James Webb Space Telescope has been specially designed to be able to detect microscopic absorption signals from distant worlds.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The team conducted similar studies on other planetary spectra but “did not find any bands referenced in these publications that match the location of the absorptions observed in Titan and Pluto,” the researchers wrote in the paper.
a molecular mystery
This discovery is even more strange because there are very few similarities between Pluto and Titan that could explain why they share a molecule that is not found anywhere else.
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Titan is Saturn’s largest many moons and even bigger Mercury. It is also the only solar system world other than Earth Known for liquid rivers and oceans On its surface. Pluto, on the other hand, is a completely frozen world that is about half the size of Titan and about four times as far away as Titan. Sun How many satellites of Saturn are there?
Both worlds have similar atmospheres that are rich in methane and nitrogen. However, researchers are confident that the molecule responsible for the 5.11-micrometer absorption line is located on the surfaces of both worlds, not in their atmospheres.
Titan and Pluto are very different worlds. Saturn’s largest moon has liquid on its surface and is about four times closer to the Sun than the dwarf planet.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Pluto’s absorption lines are about three times thicker than Titan’s, meaning the mysterious molecule is much more abundant on the dwarf planet. But on Titan, the molecule appears to be unevenly distributed, with a stronger absorption line on its trailing side – the hemisphere opposite to its forward motion around Saturn – than on its leading side.
The researchers proposed that it might be benzene – a ring-shaped hydrocarbon – mixed with an unknown molecule, or some type of acetylene or ketene ice. However, much more work is needed to prove that any of these possible candidates are responsible for absorbing this specific wavelength, they wrote.
NASA‘S Dragonfly The spacecraft, which is set to launch before 2028 and fly through Titan’s atmosphere in 2034, may eventually shed more light on the situation. The researchers suggested that an onboard spectrograph of a helicopter-like vehicle could identify the mysterious molecule on Saturn’s moon, which would also help determine whether it is viable on Pluto. But in the meantime, we’ll have to wait for this strange cosmic puzzle to be solved.
