Centaurs are former trans-Neptunian objects that have been moved inside Neptune’s orbit by subtle gravitational influences of the planets in the last few million years, and may eventually become short-period comets.
Centaurs are transitional objects between primitive trans-Neptunian objects and Jupiter-family comets.
Their compositions and activities provide fundamental clues regarding the processes affecting the evolution of and interplay between these small bodies.
“Centaurs can be considered as some of the leftovers of our planetary system’s formation,” said Dr. Sara Faggi, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and American University.
“Because they are stored at very cold temperatures, they preserve information about volatiles in the early stages of the Solar System.”
“Webb really opened the door to a resolution and sensitivity that was impressive to us — when we saw the data for the first time, we were excited. We had never seen anything like this.”
Using Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument, Dr. Faggi and her colleagues observed 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 (29P for short), a centaur that is known for its highly active and quasi-periodic outbursts.
29P varies 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 previously unseen jets of carbon dioxide gas, which give new clues to the nature of the centaur’s nucleus.
No indication of water vapor was detected in the ‘atmosphere’ of 29P, which could be related to the extremely cold temperatures present in this body.
Based on the data gathered by Webb, the researchers created a 3D model of the jets to understand their orientation and origin.
They found through their modeling efforts that the jets were emitted from different regions on the centaur’s nucleus, even though the nucleus itself cannot be resolved by Webb.
The jets’ angles suggest the…
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