|
|
Article: Tracking `rogue planets' Knots of dust and gas may help explain dark matter
- Article from:
- The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee, WI)
- Article date:
- April 15, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
Bright, tadpole-shaped knots of dust and gas discovered by the
Hubble Space Telescope near a dying star may be the source of "rogue
planets" that may help explain some of the cold, dark matter that
astronomers believe is drifting through the galaxy.
Astronomer C. Robert O'Dell, of Rice University in Houston,
discovered the clumps along the inside ring of the Helix nebula, a
ring of glowing gases blown from the surface of a star in its final
death throes 450 light-years from Earth.
The objects, which O'Dell dubbed "cometary knots," line the
inside ring of the nebula, their comet-like tails stretching out 100
billion miles in a pattern like the spokes of a wagon wheel.
Though the knots may ...