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Looking at The small planet Pluto and Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, puzzled astronomers after James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) identified chemical signatures in their spectra that did not match any recordings. Researchers believe that this is not an error of the instrument, but a signature of a group whose secret remains a mystery-a mixture of substances that have never been studied in the laboratory, or even a compound whose chemistry is not yet known.
The same is seen in a learning is awaiting publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Scientists have identified an absorption band at 5.113 micrometers on Titan and Pluto – two worlds separated by billions of kilometers and with very different conditions. The signal appeared in observations made by two different instruments on JWST, leading the team to conclude that it was either a calibration problem or another technical error.
The secret of this discovery lies in a technique called spectroscopy. Each particle or molecule interacts with light in a unique way, absorbing certain wavelengths and leaving its shape, like a fingerprint. Over the years, scientists have developed a series of these visible signatures to detect substances such as water, methane, carbon dioxide, or ammonia on the planets and the moon, as well as on other extra-planetary objects.
In this case, the comparison did not provide a satisfactory comparison. Additionally, at this point, finding a drug signature that doesn’t fit into a known group is extremely rare. Therefore, determining what is happening on Titan and Pluto may be an important question for planetary science.
Researchers have already explored several methods. He looked in the laboratory for ice and organic compounds that might exist on Earth, including acetylene, benzene, ketene, and a family of molecules called allenes. None of them exactly matches the observed signature. The most common explanation is that it comes from known compounds present in the body or a mixture that has not been studied in the laboratory, although the authors do not deny that it is possible that the symptom comes from substances whose composition has not yet been identified.
The fact that the same symbol can be found in two different places makes the mystery even more interesting. Titan has an atmosphere full of nitrogen and methane with a surface pressure of about 1.5 bar — greater than Earth — and rivers and lakes of methane water with temperatures of about -180 degrees Celsius (-292 Fahrenheit). On the other hand, Pluto only has a pressure of 10 microbars (less than 150,000 times); contains ice composed of nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide; and reaches a temperature of about -235 C (–391 Fahrenheit).
