James Webb telescope makes 'JuMBO' discovery of planet-like objects in Orion

[Biskit]

When I was getting my physics degrees 30+ years ago, one of the dominant themes often seemed to be experimental observations finally confirming theoretical predictions. It's nice to see the flip side of that, new observations of things never predicted. (And better still, crazy-cool observations.)

James Webb telescope makes 'JuMBO' discovery of planet-like objects in Orion

The new space observatory sees pairs of Jupiter-sized objects floating free between the stars.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Brian G Turner]

Very nice that it can see at that resolution! There should be plenty of free-floating planets there, so it's interesting that only binary pairs are currently being picked up. IMO common sense says every gas cloud collapse won't result in a star being formed, especially if it's not large enough, plus whatever does form is going to be subject to gravitational interference by anything else forming nearby, leading to a mix of binaries, stolens, and ejections, especially in a dense region of formation such as that.

 

[Parson]

Wow! just wow.

 

[THX1138]

Like a miniature Universe onto itself.
I always enjoy taking my scope out in late Fall and through the Winter and gaze up at it. It's a HUGE nebula to say the lest.
Very cool article!