A ghostly dust satellite or two might be revolve the Earth , accord to new research building on a 60 - year - old idea .
Massive objects attract one another through the effect of gravity . But when you have multiple Brobdingnagian object with just the right masses , their mutual gravitative field can introduce some anomalies — like gravitative point that can accommodate things static . Scientists have find objects orbiting in these “ Lagrange points ” create by the combined sobriety of the Sun and Mars , the Sun and Neptune , and the Sun and Jupiter . research worker are now report evidence of dust clouds , telephone Kordylewski dust cloud , in the Lagrange points created by the Earth and the Moon .
Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler predicted the first three Lagrange points in these kinds of organisation in 1767 , and Italian stargazer - mathematician Joseph - Louis Lagrange predicted two more points back in 1772 . Today , scientist cognize all about them — NASA ’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will revolve the Sun and Earth in a unchanging Lagrange point called L2 .
The Earth and Moon have the right ratio such that some amount of bulk could stably orbit the system at L4 and L5 , the two Lagrange points actually discovered by Lagrange himself . Polish scientist Kazimierz Kordylewski observed evidence of dust clouds near L5 in 1961 . Since then , there has n’t been much enquiry into these dust clouds . But in the past two calendar month , team of scientists have taken on an investigating to see whether these clouds could exist , despite the extra gravity of the Sun or its solar lead potentially smash such a swarm aside .
The squad from Eötvös Loránd University began by build a mathematical simulation , based on the equations of a system containing the Sun , Earth , Moon , and a quaternary junk cloud . They found that a swirling , ever - exchange detritus cloud was whole possible at L5 , according tothe firstof two papers in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . This confirm another analysis from a team ofRussian scientistspublished a month before .
But would they actually see a Kordylewski cloud ? The team arrange out using bailiwick generator Judit Slíz - Balogh ’s private observatory in Badacsonytördemic , Hungary , with special lenses that could assess the polarisation of the luminousness — essentially , the orientation of its correspond electric theater as it travels through distance . They hop that they ’d be able to see the Kordylewski rubble cloud ’s signature on the polarization of light coming from L5 .
They chance it , but not without effort . “ After several - months of perseverance ( because it is surd to line up moonless and cloudless good nights in Hungary ) we succeeded in catching the [ Kordylewski dust cloud ] around the L5 Lagrange point on two consecutive nights , ” they publish inthe second paperpublished in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .
Though the squad has the modeling and observation to back it up , it ’s still deserving care for their conclusion with a grain of salt . harmonise to the paper , their observations may be a fugacious phenomena , and whatever dust they ascertain might well be blown away through gravitational jostling from other planet or solar wind . stack of other telescopes , as well as a Japanese investigation , have n’t found evidence for the dust — though other observations have . Maybe it ’s something else , though the researcher took with child care to find out any other possible sources of this polarize light . The researchers argue that their polarisation - observing method extend a well way to find the dust cloud .
So , is the cloud really there ? The newest evidence full stop to yes — and if it really is there , that mean that we have at least one , if not two , ghost moons , with another potential dust cloud at L4 . Spoooooky !
[ MNRAS , MNRAS ]
AstronomymoonsSciencethe moon
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