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An ‘oddball’ asteroid-comet hybrid dates back 4.6 billion years
- A study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics has made the first-ever detection of the chemical composition of the famous (2060) Centaur Chiron.
- The celestial object, which is famous for its characteristics of both asteroids and comets, has a cloud-like envelope of dust and gas around it which contains both carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide ice, along with carbon dioxide and methane gases.
- The findings will help build understanding of the Centaur class of celestial objects, including their make-up and their relation to our solar system's early days.
- Last year, NASA discovered carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide ice on trans-neptunian objects (TNOs) for the first time, which also highlights the growing interest in understanding celestial objects’ chemical compositions.
- Chiron is an oddity among hybrids of comets and asteroids, with rings of material around it. Studying its gas is revealing the chemical and physical properties at play and enhancing our understanding of Chiron’s interior composition and behaviors.
- The JWST helped the researchers pinpoint the carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide ice alongside carbon dioxide and methane gases in Chiron’s coma.
- TNOs and asteroids don’t have activity like comets or centaurs, and comets are often too thick with gases to study. As a result, the study of Chiron, which does exhibit such activity, is offering valuable insights into the properties at work in the cloud-like envelope around the asteroid-comet hybrid.
- Chiron likely originated from the TNO region and has likely been zipping around our Solar System since it was formed about 4.6 billion years ago.
- The new observations provide additional information about the unique makeup of Chiron, and could pave the way for further research and discoveries into the properties of Centaurs as a whole.
- The team hopes to continue analyzing Chiron’s gases in the future.
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