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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 clues to our Solar System’s origins in a newly published study. Although our Solar System is billions of years old, we’ve only recently become better acquainted with one of its more dynamic and captivating inhabitants known as (2060) Chiron. Chiron belongs to the class of objects that astronomers call “Centaurs.” Centaurs are space objects that orbit the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune. They are akin to the mythological creature they borrow their name from in that they are hybrid, possessing characteristics of both asteroids and comets. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, UCF Florida Space Institute (FSI) scientists recently led a team that found, for the first time, that Chiron has surface chemistry unlike other centaurs. Its surface it has both carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide ice along with carbon dioxide and methane gases in its coma, the cloud-like envelope of dust and gas surrounding it. The researchers’ results were in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. UCF FSI Associate Scientist Noemí Pinilla-Alonso, who now works at the University of Oviedo in Spain, and Assistant Scientist Charles Schambeau led the research. The new findings build upon prior discoveries from Pinilla-Alonso and colleagues that ) for the first time earlier this year. Those observations, paired with ones of Chiron, are creating foundational knowledge for understanding the creation of our Solar System, as these objects have largely remained unchanged since the Solar System was formed, Pinilla-Alonso says. “All the small bodies in the Solar System talk to us about how it was back in time, which is a period of time we can’t really observe anymore,” she says. “But active centaurs tell us much more. They are undergoing transformation driven by solar heating and they provide a unique opportunity to learn about the surface and subsurface layers.” Since Chiron possesses characteristics of both an asteroid and a comet, it makes it rich for studying many processes that could assist in understanding them, she says. “What is unique about Chiron is that we can observe both the surface, where most of the ices can be found, and the coma, where we see gases that are originating from the surface or just below it,” Pinilla-Alonso says. “TNOs don’t have this kind of activity because they’re too far and too cold. Asteroids don’t have this kind of activity because they don’t have ice on them. Comets, on the other hand, show activity like centaurs, but they are typically observed closer to the Sun, and their comas are so thick that they complicate the interpretations of observations of the ices on the surface. Discovering which gases are part of the coma and their different relationships with the ices on the surface help us learn the physical and chemical properties, such as the thickness and the porosity of the ice layer, its composition, and how irradiation is affecting it.” . — The discovery of these ices and gases on an object as distant as Chiron – observed near its farthest point from the Sun – is exciting because it could help contextualize other centaurs and provide insight into the earliest era of our Solar System, Schambeau says. “These results are like nothing we’ve seen before,” he says. “Detecting gas comae around objects as far away from the Sun as Chiron is very challenging, but JWST has made it accessible. These detections enhance our understanding of Chiron’s interior composition and how that material produces the unique behaviors as we observe Chiron.” Schambeau specializes in studying centaurs, comets and other space objects. He analyzed the methane gas coma and determined that the outflowing gas detected was consistent with it being sourced from a surface area that was exposed to the most heating from the Sun. Chiron, first discovered in 1977, is characterized much better than most centaurs and comparatively is unique, Schambeau says. The newly analyzed information helps scientists better understand the thermophysical process going on in Chiron that produces methane gas, he says. “It’s an oddball when compared to the majority of other Centaurs,” Schambeau says. “It has periods where it behaves like a comet, it has rings of material around it, and potentially a debris field of small dust or rocky material orbiting around it. So, many questions arise about Chiron’s properties that allow these unique behaviors.” The researchers concluded that the coexistence of the molecules in various states adds another layer of intrigue for studying comets and centaurs. The study also highlighted the presence of irradiated byproducts of methane, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide that will require further research and could help scientists further reveal the unique processes producing Chiron’s surface composition. Chiron originated from the TNO region and has traveled around our Solar System since its creation, says Pinilla-Alonso. The orbits of Chiron and many other large non-planetary objects occasionally experience close encounters with one of the giant planets where the gravitational pull from the planet changes the smaller object’s orbit, taking them all over our Solar System and exposing them to many different environments, she says. “We know it has been ejected from the TNO population and is only now transiting through the region of the giant planets, where it will not stay for too long,” Pinilla-Alonso says. “After about 1 million years, centaurs like Chiron typically are ejected from the giant planets region, where they may end their lives as Jupiter Family comets or they may return to the TNOs region.” Pinilla-Alonso notes that the JWST’s spectra showed for the first time Chiron’s plethora of ices with different volatilities and their formation processes, she says. Some of these ices, such as methane, carbon dioxide, and water ice, may be primordial components of Chiron inherited from the pre-solar nebula. Others, such as acetylene, propane, ethane, and carbon oxide, could have formed on the surface because of reduction and oxidation processes, she says. “Based on our new JWST data, I’m not so sure we have a standard centaur,” Pinilla-Alonso says. “Every active centaur that we are observing with JWST shows some peculiarity. But they cannot be all outliers. There must be something that explains why they appear to all behave differently or something that is common between them all that we cannot yet see.” The analysis of Chiron’s gases and ices opens new frontiers and opportunities for exciting research, she says. “We’re going to follow up with Chiron,” Pinilla-Alonso says. “It will come closer to us, and if we can study it at nearer distances and get better reads on the quantities and nature of the ices, silicates, and organics, we will be able to better understand how seasonal insolation variations and different illumination patterns can affect its behavior and its ice reservoir.” The JWST is the world’s premier space science observatory, and it is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe. The JWST is an international collaboration led by NASA with its partners the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. Pinilla-Alonso was a professor at FSI who joined UCF in 2015. Most of her work on this project was conducted while she was at UCF. Pinilla-Alonso also holds a joint appointment as a research professor in UCF’s Department of Physics and has led numerous international observational campaigns in support of NASA missions, such as New Horizons, OSIRIS-REx and Lucy. Pinilla-Alonso is a distinguished professor at the Institute for Space Sciences and Technologies in Asturias, within the Universidad de Oviedo. She received her doctoral degree in astrophysics and planetary sciences from the Universidad de La Laguna in Spain. Schambeau is an assistant scientist who received his doctoral degree in physics with a concentration in planetary sciences in 2018 from UCF. He subsequently joined FSI where he expanded upon his work examining comets and centaurs as part of UCF’s Preeminent Postdoctoral Program. Astrobiology, Astrochemistry,Devils Recall Goalie Isaac Poulter From the AHL
This was India’s warmest October in 123 years. It was also the month when Bengaluru got flooded, and cyclonic storm Dana ripped through three of Odisha’s districts, with damages pegged at ₹ 600 crore. Extreme and unseasonal weather events have dotted 10 months of 2024 before the countries in the world met in Baku, Azerbaijan, to discuss the climate crisis. Earlier, in the last leg of the monsoon, it felt like 52 degrees in Guwahati. Assam and parts of other northeastern states were hit by an unprecedented heat wave in September that claimed several lives and forced schools to shut, whereas, in the same period, neighbouring West Bengal bore the brunt of flooding in six districts. Remember, throughout January, there was not a flake of snow in Gulmarg and other places in Kashmir. This was followed by a hellish summer that saw a record number of heatwaves and heat-related deaths nationwide. Leh, a cold desert, was too hot for flights to take off. Delhi’s heat index touched 53°C, recording the longest heatwave streak, which lasted over a month (May 14-June 21). Similarly, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, and smart cities like Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kota, Nashik, and Surat fell apart on a heavy rainy day. The tragedy in Wayanad, Kerala, and other heavy landslides in Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand should serve as a reminder that extreme weather is a harsh reality. And not just India, Australia experienced its hottest winter at 41.6°C, and Bandar-e Mahshahr, Iran, reported a heat index of 66.7°C in August. Mount Fuji remained snowless for the longest time, and flash floods in Spain and in the Sahara are grim reminders that we are drifting deeper into a climate catastrophe. The world experienced a new global record of unprecedented heat for a continuous 14 months, from June 2023-July 2024, when the Earth’s average temperature reached or exceeded 1.5°C above the pre-industrial era. In all likelihood, the mean global temperature in 2024-2028 will exceed 1.5°C, undermining the 2015 iconic Paris Agreement pledge to try and keep temperatures from rising by more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Fossil fuels are toxic for the climate, and to stay below 1.5°C warming, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions need to be cut by 43% by 2030, which seems unlikely now with another failed climate conference. India rejected the $300-billion climate finance target pushed through by the developed nations, calling it an optical illusion. At the same conference, Haitham Al Ghais, the secretary general of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), said crude oil and natural gas were “gifts from God”. A concrete plan to reduce emissions did not materialise, and may never happen as Donald Trump returns to the White House in 2025. Trump is likely to accelerate the production of fossil fuels and withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement. Global climate talks began in 1991, but GHG emissions and global temperature have been rising faster than ever. GHG emissions are now at an all-time high with no signs of slowing down as governments acorss the world hop from one environment summit to another. Further, not a single target on climate, biodiversity, or sustainability has been met. Only the goalposts keep changing, with new jargon and timelines. An analysis of 1,500 climate policies (in force between 1998 and 2022) reveals that they have done little to prevent the acceleration of the climate crisis. The irony is despite all the talk on targets, clean energy, and the phasing out fossil fuels, the climate crisis is unfolding at a frantic pace. This year, domestic coal production rose by 5.79%, imports were up by 2.2%, while the country’s renewable energy capacity crossed 200 GW, on track to reach 500GW by 2030. But, according to Czech-Canadian scientist Vaclav Smil, energy transitions take decades, and not mere years; the promises of accelerated energy transitions in large economies will have a protracted realisation due to technical and infrastructural imperatives and unforeseen socioeconomic issues. At a three-day Oil and Gas Expo in December in Delhi, India’s role in future global oil and gas markets will be discussed, with the energy demand projected to double by 2050. Climate scientists are giving up hope. No one thinks limiting warming to 1.5°C is possible. It is time to look at smaller, more tangible targets for mitigation, such as cutting global food waste that itself is responsible for 10% of GHGs and managing urban waste. About 60% of India’s population will be living in cities by 2050. So, climate-resilient design and environmental sustainability in public infrastructure must be given emphasis. At the time the Baku talks were on, the Green Building Congress in Bengaluru slipped under the news radar: These events where “green” policy for infrastructure is discussed deserve better traction if we want a climate-resilient future. Chasing net zero will not help. Artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technology that we hope will help ameliorate our climate pains are energy guzzlers, and, at least as of now, energy is rarely green. For example, the growth of solar and wind energy means more mining for lithium, cobalt, copper, silver, nickel, and other minerals, which will leave its own massive carbon footprint and deplete forest cover, thereby affecting the planet’s carbon absorption capacity. Against such a backdrop, can we confidently say we will live to see 2070, the year India hopes to become net zero? While a third of our economy relies on nature, we can’t grow by exploiting the environment. We must have a Plan B, for there is no escape from extreme weather events turbocharged by the climate crisis: the excessive heat, rain (or the lack of it), and now the severe winter, signalled by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) due to La Niña. At this pace, 2024, the warmest year on record, will surpass the previous year as the year with the most number of days that saw extreme weather events in India. The number was 318 days out of 365 in 2023. Ananda Banerjee is an author, artist, and wildlife conservationist. The views expressed are personal‘Will solicit people’s help in mission against pollution’