Several scientists unveiled one of the many secrets of the solar system from an unexpected source: A planetarium show that will open to the public on Monday.
In the American Museum of Natural History, experts worked hard on the preparation of ‘Milky Way’ Encounters, a deep immersion in our galaxymolded by the movements of stars and other heavenly objects.
They were refining a scene that presented what is known as the OOR cloudt, a region far beyond pluto full of frozen relics of the formation of the solar system. Comets can rush towards the earth from the cloud, but scientists have never glimpsed their true form.
One night, while watching the Oort cloud scene, scientists noticed something strange projected in the planetarium dome.
“Why is there a spiral there? ”, Jackie Faherty said of the museum.
The internal section of the Oort cloud, composed of billions of comets, resembled a bar with two undulating arms, similar to the shape of our Galaxy Via Milky.
Scientists had long thought that Oort’s cloud was shaped like a flattened shell, deformed by the gravitational forces of other planets and the Milky Way itself. ANDThe planetarium show hinted that a more complex form could be found inside.
The museum contacted the researcher who provided the Oort cloud data for the show, who was also surprised to see the spiral.
“It is a kind of fortuitous accident that really happened”said David Nesvorny of the Southwest Research Institute.
Upon realizing that they had discovered something new, the researchers published their findings earlier this year in The Astrophysical Journal.
The spiral is “A surprising change in our understanding of the exterior solar system”said planetary scientist Andre Izidoro of the University of Rice, who did not participate in the study.
The discovery, which is based on data on how heavenly objects move and uses simulations, will be difficult to confirm with observations. PBut knowing more about the orbits of distant comets could give scientists some cluesSaid Izidoro.
While preparing the planetarium show, museum experts did not expect to find a window to the internal mechanisms of the universe. The show, narrated by actor Pedro Pascal, presents many vivid scenes that can captivate the public in addition to the Oort cloudsaid Jon Parker, from the museum, including an ongoing fusion of the mini Sagittarius galaxy with the Milky Way.
No matter how shocking and beautiful are the visuals of the show, the museum was committed to making it scientifically precise. That is what created the perfect conditions to discover something new, said Carter Emmart, of the museum.
“You never know what you are going to find,” Emmart said.