Trans-Neptunian objects reveal clues about Neptune's origins with the help of the James Webb Space Telescope.
The image depicts an artistic representation of Mors-Somnus, consisting of two icy asteroids that are gravitationally bound to each other and form a rare binary object.Far beyond Neptune, a swirling ring of icy rocks may hold secrets waiting to be unlocked – a fresh new study suggests these rocks could change our understanding of Neptune and distant celestial bodies.
The team pinpointed similarities between Mors-Somnus and surrounding TNOs using JWST’s powerful spectral capabilities. Those undisturbed objects, termed “cold classical,” tell a tale of Neptune’s past. These frozen celestial bodies may act as markers left in Neptune’s wake before it settles into its current orbit.Widely separated binary pairs like Mors-Somnus typically can’t withstand the chaotic forces outside gravity-bound regions like the Kuiper Belt.
With its unique capabilities, JWST is poised to revolutionize our understanding of the Trans-Neptunian region. “For the first time, we can not only resolve images of systems with multiple components like the Hubble Space Telescope, but we can also study their composition with a level of detail that only Webb can provide,” Pinilla-Alonso says. “We can now investigate the formation process of these binaries like never before.
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