Two weak dust clouds near the Earth, confirmed for decades, have been confirmed

The dust clouds were first reported by an astronomer on a Polish mountain peak darkened in the early spring of 1961. Kazimierz Kordylewski (1903-1981) postulated that the traces he had seen in his telescope were interplanetary dust clouds floating at Lagrange Point L4, a neighborhood of our galaxy that was fixed due to the orbit of the Earth and the moon around the sun.

The only problem with the theory is that other astronomers could not see them, some models of astrophysics could not account for it and a Japanese space probe that had traveled the region in the 1990s had not found any obvious sign of their existence.

But now, a Hungarian team has claimed to have confirmed the existence of Kordylewski dust clouds using the same kind of polarization as used for sunglasses, as was recently reported in the newspaper. Monthly Notices from the Royal Astronomical Society. They have also computer modeled its persistent existence, scientists say, at the gravitational forces competing near the usual path of our planet around the sun.

"By using ground-origin imaging polarimetry, we present here new evidence of the existence of the KDC around the L5 point of the Earth-Moon system," the report says. document. "Our polarimetric evidence is corroborated by the results of the simulation of dust cloud formation in the L5 point of the Earth-Moon system presented in … this paper."

The observations took months, especially as it is "difficult to find good moonless nights without clouds in Hungary," according to astronomers.

Using a 300mm telephoto Tokina equipped with a Moravian G3-11 CC camera, as well as three linear polarizing filters manufactured by Edmund Optics, they swept the night sky for months.

But two consecutive nights in August 2017 presented the window they needed. They were able to detect two scattered clusters of black pixels, astronomers report.

This phenomenon could not be explained by other phenomena that could cause unwanted interference. In fact, several other cases of such interference could explain visual traces in the film. One night in October 2017, for example, it was proven that the ambient lights were causing visual traces. a thin cloud one night in June 2017 explained the faint cloud captured by the camera; and even traces of condensation from an aircraft in the field of view one night in July 2017 have explained another potential event, according to the authors.

The authors said in a statement issued by the Royal Astronomical Society that they were satisfied with their findings, formulated through the "perseverance" of the slightest heavenly clue.

"Kordylewski's clouds are two of the most difficult objects to find, and although they are as close to Earth as the moon, they are largely ignored by astronomers," said Judit Sliz-Balogh. , one of the authors, from the university ELTE Eotvos Lorand. , who owns the private observatory where the observations were made. "It's intriguing to confirm that our planet has dusty pseudo-satellites in orbit alongside our lunar neighbor."