James Webb Space Telescope

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'We know so little': Bizarre 'runaway' planets discovered by James Webb telescope may be failed stars in disguise

Mysterious pairs of "rogue," Jupiter-size objects may have arisen from embryonic stars, a new study suggests. The theory could explain some characteristics of these Jupiter-mass binary objects (JuMBOs), such as why members of each pair are so widely separated, but more data is needed to confirm the idea.

The James Webb Space Telescope spotted these JuMBOs in the trapezoid zone of the Orion Nebula. Each JuMBO pair comprises two gas giants, each between 0.7 and 30 times the mass of Jupiter. These "rogue" planet partners have been found orbiting each other — but not a parent star — at a distance of about 25 to 400 astronomical units, or 25 to 400 times the average distance between Earth and the sun.

Astronomers have proposed several ideas for how these mysterious duos form. One theory is that they were flung simultaneously from their home systems by a passing star, although some scientists believe this is very unlikely. Another idea is that JuMBOs emerged around a star but their gravities tug them toward each other and out of orbit during close encounters.

However, all of these theories assume that JuMBOs originate from planets that have already formed. In contrast, the new study proposes a radically different idea: that the Orion Nebula's JuMBOs aren't preexisting pairs of planets but rather the hearts of embryonic stars.