Scientists have discovered a large bar-shaped cloud of iron atoms in space that may offer clues about Earth’s future.
The structure, which was found inside the Ring Nebula – a famous, colorful cloud formed when a dying sun-like star shed its outer layers – was about 500 times wider than Pluto’s orbit and is 2,283 light-years away.
Astronomers from Cardiff University, as well as University College London, found the iron bar using a new telescope instrument called the WHT Enhanced Area Velocity Explorer (Weave).
Scientists observing it say its origin is unclear, but their theories about how it formed suggest it could provide clues to Earth’s future.
The first theory is that the cloud could have formed during the creation of the nebula, as the parent star collapsed.
Alternatively, experts believe it could be space plasma, left by a rocky planet that was destroyed as the star expanded. If true, it could offer a preview of Earth’s future as the sun – Earth’s parent star – sheds its outer layers in a similar fashion, engulfing Earth, in a few billion years.
The team said they were planning more observations to unravel precisely what the iron bar was, where it came from, and what it could tell them.
Lead author Dr Roger Wesson, based jointly at Cardiff University and UCL, said that although the Ring Nebula had been studied using many different telescopes and instruments, Weave had allowed them to “observe it in a new way, providing much more detail than before”.
He said: “By obtaining a continuous spectrum across the entire nebula, we can image the nebula at any wavelength and determine its chemical composition at any position.
“When we processed the data and scrolled through the images, one thing stood out as clear as anything – this previously known ‘bar’ of ionized iron atoms, in the middle of the familiar and iconic circle.”
Cardiff University scientists were among those involved in the research [Colin Smith/Geograph]
Co-author Prof Janet Drew added: “We definitely need to know more – particularly whether any other chemical elements exist alongside the newly discovered iron, as this would probably tell us the right class of model to follow.”
Weave will conduct eight surveys over the next five years, targeting everything from nearby white dwarfs – a type of dead star – to very distant galaxies.
Wesson added: “It would be very surprising if the iron bar in the Ring was unique.
“So hopefully, as we observe and analyze more nebulae created in the same way, we will discover more examples of this phenomenon, which will help us understand where the iron comes from.”