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Scientists have been discussing for more than half a century the existence of two mysterious celestial objects called Kordylewski dust clouds.
The Polish astronomer Kazimierz Kordylewski observed these dust clouds for the first time in 1961. It is thought that they gravitate around our planet around points L4 and L5 Lagrange – two of the five stable locations on the gravitational plane of the Earth-Moon system.
Although later observations of Kordylewski dust clouds have sometimes been reported, their presence in the orbit of our planet has remained controversial. This is because dust clouds are "exceptionally weak," note Science Daily, which makes their detection extremely difficult.
Nevertheless, it seems that the elusive clouds were successfully spotted by a team of Hungarian astronomers and physicists, who eventually confirmed their existence, the media reported, quoting the Royal Astronomical Society.
According to the team, Kordylewski dust clouds were observed about 400,000 kilometers from the Earth (or around 250,000 miles), around Lagrange Point L5.
"Kordylewski clouds are two of the most difficult objects to find, and although they are as close to [the] Earth like the moon, [they] are largely neglected by astronomy researchers. It is intriguing to confirm that our planet has dusty pseudo-satellites in orbit alongside our lunar neighbor, "said Judit Slíz-Balogh, one of the researchers who made the discovery.
Our elusive neighbors in orbit: two dusty clouds of Kordylewski identified – at the L5 position of Earth: //t.co/pBvWs7t6Gs
– ????????????????????? ???????????????? ???? (@DavidBrin) October 26, 2018
How are you going to find something that is virtually impossible to find? In this particular case, scientists began by developing a computer model of Kordylewski dust clouds to understand how they are formed and what is the best way to detect them.
The results of their simulation were published earlier this year in the Monthly Notices from the Royal Astronomical Society and pointed out that mysterious clouds of dust could be spotted using polarizing filters – optical filters that transmit light with a particular direction of oscillation. These filters only allow the passage of light waves of a specific polarization, while blocking the rest.
The next step was to apply the technique to observe the sky and actively search for Kordylewski dust clouds around L4 and L5. Unlike the other three Langrangian points, which form a line crossing the Earth and its natural satellite, L4 and L5 form a triangle of the same rank with our planet and the moon and constantly move around the Earth when it moves on its orbit. This makes them less gravitationally stable, prompting scientists to wonder if dust can accumulate in these places.
"Many astronomers assume that these dust clouds do not exist because the gravitational disturbances of the sun, solar wind and other planets could disrupt the stabilizing effect of Lagrange points L4 and L5 of the Earth and the Moon ", emphasize the scientists. a second article, also published in the Monthly Notices from the Royal Astronomical Society.
Kordylewski clouds! https://t.co/sLm1CMjYtg
– Roger Highfield (@RogerHighfield) October 27, 2018
Using a highly sensitive photon detector and a linear polarization filter system attached to a camera lens, the team photographed the areas and captured a type of light polarized which could only be reflected by the accumulated dust near the L5 Lagrange point.
The detection model was consistent with both the predictions of the previous study and observations made by Kordylewski in previous decades.
"Excluding artefacts induced by the telescope, cirrus clouds or contrails of aircraft, the only explanation is the polarized diffusion of sunlight on the particles collected around the point L5", concludes the team. .
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