Latest news with #NortholtBranchObservatories
Time of India
5 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
A hidden moon partner? Scientists find Uranus in a rhythm with a mysterious "icy body"
ave you ever imagined cosmic objects dancing together through space? Recent research says that it is possible, as planet Uranus and a small icy body are locked in such a surprising routine that it almost seems to be impossible. A newly flagged paper led by Daniel Bamberger of Germany's Northolt Branch Observatories reports that the Centaur known as 2015 OU₁₉₄ is engaged in an extraordinary 3:4 orbital resonance with Uranus. But how is this possible, and what does that mean? What makes this Centaur, 2015 OU₁₉₄, so special? Since it was first spotted in 2015, 2015 OU₁₉₄ has confused astronomers. Centaurs, which are icy-rocky bodies drifting between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune, typically have unpredictable paths. But something that makes it special is the way it moves. Unlike most Centaurs, which tend to have messy, unpredictable paths, this one follows a nearly perfect circular orbit between Uranus and Neptune. When researchers looked back at data from 2017 and 2018, they realized that its orbit was different what they originally thought; it was much more stable. With the help of extended observations, they were able to track its path more accurately, stretching the known movement from just one year to about 3.5 years. With this longer dataset, Daniel Bamberger and his team discovered that 2015 OU₁₉₄ is locked in a 3:4 orbital resonance with Uranus, and this pattern has likely stayed in place for a million years, and could continue for another half a million. Why is this such a big deal? The space beyond Uranus is usually chaotic, with objects moving in all sorts of directions. To find something so steady and synchronized is rare. This orbital 'dance' between Uranus and the Centaur keeps them from crashing into each other or drifting away. It's the first time scientists have seen such a long-lasting relationship like this with Uranus, and it could give a new perspective on the hidden gravitational patterns shaping our solar system. Are there any more similar objects? In search of patterns beyond this discovery, the team also examined other Centaurs, which revealed that 2013 RG₉₈ shares a similar resonance with Uranus, although less perfectly aligned than its counterpart. Another object, 2014 NX₆₅, appears influenced by Neptune's gravity, not Uranus's (arXiv). This might also suggest that many other minor planets in the outer solar system might be part of subtle orbital orchestrations shaped by the giant planets' gravitational fields. What are Centaurs? Centaurs are small, icy-rocky objects that orbit the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune. Their composition sits between asteroids and comets, often with unpredictable, shifting paths. Named after the mythical half-human, half-horse creatures, Centaurs are mysterious and unstable, which makes them interesting to scientists studying the outer solar system's history and changes.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Say That Uranus Appears to Have a Girlfriend
When checking out Uranus, scientists discovered something exciting: that the planet appears to have a long-term... well, call it a situationship. In a new, yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper flagged by Universe Today, an international group of researchers detailed finding a so-called "Centaur" — a small, icy and rocky body that sits between Uranus and Neptune and is designated as a minor planet — that appears to have been keeping up with Uranus in a delicate cosmic dance for thousands or even millions of years. Dubbed 2015 OU₁₉₄, the Centaur in question differs from others of its type, which often have chaotic orbits, because of its distinctively stable rotation around the Sun. Specifically, the small planet was observed making three rotations around the Sun for every four that Uranus completes. This "resonance," as it's called, keeps the two from either colliding or drifting apart — a long-held stability that, let's be real, most humans fail to achieve with their own partners. Led by Daniel Bamberger of Germany's Northolt Branch Observatories, the research team dug through archival observations and found that the minor planet's orbit stayed locked into that of Uranus was documented in 2015, the year it was first seen from Japan's Subaru Telescope atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano. The researchers subsequently found similar observations of the Centaur from 2017 and 2018 as well. After running the data from those observations through computer simulations, the team — which also included scientists from California and Brazil — found that the two bodies had been together for at least 1,000 years, and potentially more than a million. The scientists also predicted that the pair would keep on keepin' on for some 500,000 years to come. Until now, the paper notes, no other planets have been found to have any such resonance with our Solar System's outermost planets. That may soon change, however, thanks to additional observations suggesting that there are at least two other Centaurs, dubbed 2013 RG₉₈ and 2014 NX₆₅, which may be in similar relationships with Uranus and Neptune, respectively. Should the scientists determine that 2013 RG₉₈ is indeed doing a similar dance with Uranus, it may turn out that 2015 OU₁₉₄ is not just in a situationship, but that it may, in fact, be involved in a cosmic throuple. More on cosmic bonds: Mysterious Signal Coming From a Dead Star and Its Companion Solve the daily Crossword
