Tiny frozen world unexpectedly appears to have an atmosphere

 

Image courtesy of NAOJ/Ko Arimatsu.

Joel Kontinen

A tiny The object, located in the Kuiper Belt of distant frozen bodies at the edge of the solar system, is formally named (612533) 2002 XV93, after the date of its discovery nearly a quarter of a century ago. It has a diameter of less than 500 kilometres.

he object also belongs to a class of objects known as plutinos because they are in the same stable orbit as Pluto, completing three revolutions around the sun for every two made by Neptune.

It seems that this object, though it is small,  has an atmosphere,   

On 10 January 2024, 2002 XV93 passed in front of a distant star, causing what is called an occultation. Ko Arimatsu at Kyoto University and his colleagues observed this event from three locations in Japan.

The team saw the star gradually fade and recover over about 1.5 seconds near the edge of the shadow.

“These gradual changes are best explained if the star’s light was bent by a very thin atmosphere around 2002 XV93,” says Arimatsu.

The team estimates a surface pressure of about 100 to 200 nanobars, roughly 5 million to 10 million times thinner than Earth’s atmosphere and about 50 to 100 times thinner than Pluto’s tenuous atmosphere.

“You could not breathe it, feel wind from it, or see anything like Earth’s sky,” says Arimatsu. “But it is not negligible scientifically because even such a thin atmosphere can measurably bend starlight, and it tells us that volatile gases are present or being supplied around a very small icy body.”

The team couldn’t determine the composition of the atmosphere directly from the data. Arimatsu suggests methane, nitrogen and carbon monoxide are the most plausible candidates because they are among the few substances volatile enough to become gases at the very low temperatures of the outer solar system.

“This discovery challenges our conventional view of small worlds in the outer solar system,” says Arimatsu. “Until now, clearly detectable atmospheres in the solar system were essentially associated with planets, dwarf planets and some large satellites. 2002 XV93 appears to be one of the smallest solar system bodies yet with a clearly detected atmosphere.”

Souurse:

James Woodford 2026 Tiny frozen world unexpectedly appears to have an atmosphere | New Scientist 4 May

 

Comet Arrokoth is a object made of of two parts with pancake-like shapes

 

Image courtesy of NASA

Joel Kontinen

The universe is made up of odd objects like the Pancake-like comet in the Kuiper Belt.

“Spinning clouds of pebbles may lead to the formation of oddly flattened objects in the solar system, including comets and asteroids.”

“In 2019, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past an icy, comet-like object beyond Pluto called Arrokoth. It was notable because it seemed to be relatively flat, with each of its two joined lobes squished into a image courtesy of pancake shape. Several other objects in the solar system seem similarly squashed, including comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.”

Source:

Jonathan O’Callaghan 2024. Pancake-like comets may be made by whirling clouds of pebbles | New Scientist 25 January. 

 

Evolutionists believe in a rogue planet, that may have formed our solar system

Image courtesy of  NASA/JPL-Caltech

Joel Kontinen 

 Some evolutionists believe in a rogue planet twice the size of Earth may have pushed asteroids into the outer reaches of the early solar system before it was ejected. 

 This could solve the mystery of how some of the most distant objects in the Kuiper belt got there, which cannot be explained by most models of solar system formation that are unbelievable. The Kuiper belt is a huge disc of cold rocks and ice that extends out beyond the orbit of Neptune and has been a source of a few comets.

Source;  

Crane ,Leah. 2022.  A long-lost rogue planet could explain unexpectedly distant asteroids New Scientist  1 October. 

Space Rock Challenges Planet-Formation Theories

2002 UX25 challenges planet-formation theories. Image courtesy of M. Brown/NASA.




Joel Kontinen

A recent Nature news article recounts the standard explanation of planet formation:

“Small dust particles in the swirling disk that surrounded the infant Sun gradually collided and coalesced to form bigger particles. This process ultimately built dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt, such as Pluto, as well as Earth and the other rocky planets in the inner Solar System.”

However, it discloses that this scenario might very well be very wrong. The reason for this is a 650-kilometre wide space rock that is less dense than water. The Kuiper-belt object, dubbed 2002 UX25, challenges current planet-formation theories.

The articles explains why 2002 UX25 matters: “Objects in the Kuiper belt are believed to have changed relatively little since the early years of the Solar System.”

There is no shortage of evidence that confirms that the solar system was designed very intelligently in order to make life on Earth possible.

Source:

Coven, Ron. 2013. Astronomers surprised by large space rock less dense than water. Kuiper belt object challenges planet-formation theories. Nature news (13 November).