Examining 200,000 images from the Hubble Space Telescope as part of the SKYSURF project, scientists discovered a mysterious ‘ghost glow’ surrounding our Solar system.
Examining 200,000 images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, scientists discovered a “ghost glow” surrounding our solar system when all known light sources were removed. Researchers think that the glow in question may be the result of an unknown structure in our solar system.
Could Be an Unknown Light Source in the Solar System
According to the above, the discovered glow scatters the equivalent of ten fireflies spread across the entire sky. But scientists don’t know exactly where the light comes from yet. Possible explanations are that it is sunlight reflecting off a sphere of dust left behind by comets in the Solar system.
In 2021, data from NASA’s interplanetary space probe New Horizon revealed that there is a small amount of background light in our solar system of unknown cause. However, it is stated that the light detected by New Horizon is less intense compared to the images from Hubble. However, this may be because New Horizon is further away from Hubble (6.4 or 8 billion km from the Sun).
“If our analysis is correct, there is another dust component between us and the distance New Horizons is measuring,” said Tim Carleton of Arizona State University. “This means there is some kind of extra light coming from inside our solar system.” uttered his words. If this claim is confirmed, a new contribution will be made to the known structure of the Solar System.
