With the telescopes we send into space, we continue to learn new information about the Solar System and the universe every day. Now, data from the Hubble Space Telescope, which was sent into space in 1990 and has provided us with incredible visuals over the years, reveals that something new and quite interesting has been discovered in the Solar System.
According to NASA’s statement on Hubble’s official website, scientists have detected a mysterious glow surrounding the Solar System. NASA reported that this ghostly glow was noticed after the researchers removed the light from all stars, galaxies and planets, and made the following analogy: “Imagine turning off all the lights and curtains in your room at night. Even so, an eerie but barely visible glow comes from the walls, ceiling or floor. This might sound like a scene from the Ghostbusters movie; But it’s a fact for astronomers.”
The glow is equivalent to the light emitted by 10 fireflies spread across the sky.
The researchers discovered this negligible glow by examining data from the Hubble Space Telescope in detail. Examining 200,000 archive images taken from the telescope within the scope of the project called SKYSURF, the experts reached this conclusion by making tens of thousands of measurements. This; It was said to be a light that remains after removing the glow from planets, stars, galaxies, and dust from our star system.
NASA says the glow discovered is equivalent to the glow of 10 fireflies spread across the entire sky. He explains this by comparing it to a small glow that can be seen even as a result of turning off all the light sources in a room, which we mentioned at the beginning of our article. It is also among the information that the discovery may lead to the revision of models of the structure of the Solar System.
Scientists also shared a possible explanation for this glow. Accordingly, this mysterious glow could be sunlight reflecting off the dust glob left behind by comets in the Solar System. If this is true, the study may contribute to the familiar nature of our system. As comets approach, heat from the Sun can cause solid matter in these objects to turn into gas and form dust. This can cause the reflection of sunlight and this type of glare.
A similar discovery was made in 2021.
It should be added that this glow is not the first mysterious glow discovered in the Solar system. NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft made a similar discovery in 2021. The vehicle began leaving our system and making its way into the interstellar medium, passing Pluto in 2015. Meanwhile, he made measurements at a distance of 6-8 billion kilometers from the Sun. However, the light source obtained in this study was much further away than that detected by the SKYSURF team.
Finally, Rick Carleton, one of the researchers in the study who discovered the new glow, said in his statements, “If our analysis is correct, there is another dust component between us and the distance New Horizons is measuring. “This means that the glow is a kind of extra light coming from inside our Solar System.”
