James Webb telescope spies a mysterious asteroid-comet hybrid …
5 days ago · The James Webb telescope has focused its attention on an oddball space rock lurking between Jupiter and Neptune. The unusual "centaur," named 2060 Chiron, has features of both comets and asteroids.
JWST Just Solved a Decades-Old Mystery About Chiron—Here’s …
5 days ago · The celestial object known as (2060) Chiron is rewriting our understanding of the solar system’s history. Located between Jupiter and Neptune, Chiron belongs to a rare class of hybrid objects called centaurs. These enigmatic celestial bodies display characteristics of both asteroids and comets, making them a fascinating subject for astronomers. What Makes Chiron a …
Asteroid-comet hybrid named "Chiron" is unlike anything ever …
6 days ago · JWST’s advanced capabilities allowed the researchers to study Chiron even at its farthest point from the Sun. This distance usually limits the activity of similar objects, such as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Unlike comets closer to the Sun, Chiron’s thinner coma offers clearer insights into its surface chemistry. Chiron’s ice and gas ...
Astronomers Use JWST To Study a Rare Asteroid-Comet Hybrid Named "Chiron"
Chiron contains signs that it has emitted both carbon dioxide and methane - the first time the two gasses were found released from a Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO), a team of scientists report in ...
Asteroid-comet chimera Chiron has an unusual ice mix, James …
6 days ago · Chiron's 50-year elliptical orbit around the sun saw it pass through aphelion — its greatest distance from the sun at 18.87 astronomical units (2.8 billion kilometers, or 1.75 billion miles) in ...
Uncovering a Centaur’s Tracks: UCF Scientists Examine Unique …
Dec 17, 2024 · 2060 Chiron Chemical Composition. The colored bands highlight the different ices such as water ice, carbon oxides and light hydrocarbons. Inset: Detail of 2060 Chiron reflectance highlighting the fluorescence of methane gas together with absorptions of ethane and propane ices. (Image credit: William Gonzalez Sierra)
Uncovering a centaur's tracks: Scientists examine unique
Dec 18, 2024 · Unveiling the ice and gas nature of active centaur (2060) Chiron using the James Webb Space Telescope. Astronomy & Astrophysics , 2024; 692: L11 DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202450124
Uncovering a centaur's tracks: Scientists examine unique asteroid …
Dec 18, 2024 · More information: N. Pinilla-Alonso et al, Unveiling the ice and gas nature of active centaur (2060) Chiron using the James Webb Space Telescope, Astronomy & Astrophysics (2024). DOI: 10.1051/0004 ...
Uncovering a centaur’s tracks: UCF scientists | EurekAlert!
Dec 18, 2024 · UCF researchers used the James Webb Space Telescope to reveal one-of-a-kind attributes of (2060) Chiron, a distant “centaur” in space sharing properties of both a comet and an asteroid, giving...
Unveiling the ice and gas nature of active centaur (2060) Chiron …
Dec 18, 2024 · (2060) Chiron is a large centaur that has been reported active on multiple occasions at relatively large heliocentric distances, including during aphelion passage. Studies of Chiron’s coma during active periods have resulted in the detection of C≡N and CO outgassing.