Jupiter Mass Binary Objects - JuMBOs - SSW

JUPITER MASS BINARY OBJECTS - JUMBOS - SAM PEARSON

In recent observations of the Trapezium Cluster with the JWST, we have discovered and characterised a sample of 540 planetary-mass candidates with masses down to 0.6 Jupiter masses. In an unexpected twist we find that 9% of these planetary-mass objects are in wide binaries. The binary fraction of stars and brown dwarfs is well known to decrease monotonically with decreasing mass such that the binary fraction for the planetary-mass regime is expected to approach zero. The existence of substantial population of Jupiter Mass Binary Objects (JuMBOs) raises serious questions of our understanding of both star and planet formation. In this talk I will present the discovery of these JuMBOs, the 540 PMO candidates, and discuss the implications for our understanding of star and planet formation.