In October 2023, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) spotted curious planet-like objects in the Orion Nebula, a cloud of gas and dust and the largest star forming region closest to Earth.
Because they are too small to be stars, weren’t formed under conditions that usually birth planets, and did not orbit any stars like planets are supposed to, scientists have dubbed them Jupiter Mass Binary Objects, or JuMBOS. As the name implies, they have a gaseous composition and size similar to Jupiter. Because of the unconventional aspects and circumstances of their existence, scientists speculate whether this is an entirely new astronomical category that we were previously oblivious to.
The circumstances of their formation are uniquely perplexing. If these are indeed planets, then they defy the theories of planetary formation. Planet-like objects of this size should not be forming in the birthing cradle of stars. Professor Mark McCaughrean, a senior advisor at the European Space Agency, said, “physics says you can’t even make objects that small [under the given conditions].” It was only when the data from ground based telescopes suggested that there might be a mysterious class of astronomical objects that scientists even started looking for the JuMBOs. McCaughrean echoed, “We wanted to see, can we break physics? And I think we have, which is good.”
The “Binary” in JuMBOs can be attributed to the fact that these “pseudo planets” float in pairs. That is another source of bafflement for scientists. Why are they in pairs? While rogue planets are not a new phenomena, being paired is a mystery that no one seems to have the answer to. The two theories that are being speculated don’t explain that. The first theory is that the JuMBOs formed in a nebulous region where the material density wasn’t enough to form stars so these incomplete objects were formed. The second theory, currently with more supporters, is that the JuMBOs were formed around stars, but because of various interactions, were kicked out into interstellar space. The points of contention with this theory are that there are no stars whatsoever that the JuMBOs could have been orbiting and if they were ejected into space, how was it done simultaneously and how do they stay bonded to float in such close proximity?
The JuMBOs are a million years old, a relatively tiny time span in the geological timescale. They are large, hot and gassy with methane and steam-containing atmospheres with an infernal surface temperature of around 1000°C. But without a host star to keep them warm, the temperatures will rapidly drop to below habitable levels, though by virtue of being gas giants incapable of harboring liquid water on their surface, that is a moot point. They likely don’t support any life at all.
It is astounding to see the progress we’ve made. From the first astronomical observations in ancient Mesopotamia in 1000 BCE to the cutting edge discoveries facilitated by state of the art technology, there is a gulf of accomplishments, discoveries and leaps of courage that have allowed us to peer into the depths of the universe. Ingenious devices like the James Webb Space Telescope have allowed us to reach further than we could travel in a thousand human lifetimes. But despite how far we’ve come, there is still so much we don’t understand. In fact, some of us have been illusioned into believing that there is nothing more for us to find. Professor Matthew Bate, head of astrophysics at the University of Exeter, UK, succinctly captured that belief in his statement, “In the last decade, a lot of us thought we understood star formation pretty well. So [the discovery of JuMBOS] is really a very, very surprising result and we’re going to learn a lot from it.” We’ve barely scratched the surface. Both on Earth and in space, there is so much more than what meets the eye. So much more to learn of.
