These in Orion are close enough and bright enough to be visible directly to the James Webb, without the need for a gravitational lens. The dust is also less of a problem for infrared telescopes like the Webb, so we're quite fortunate at being able to see them.
Do we have the technology (,and the funding) to create a big science Super-LIGO that could look at a selected arc of the sky and just "see" objects by their gravitational signatures? Such as rogue planets, etc.? Sorry if this is a dumb question.
We can't detect a lens alone, what we need is something directly behind the lens that reveals its presence. We already have some telescopes that can spot objects in this way. Gaia has spotted quite a few lenses, and another observatory, OGLE, has dedicated itself to finding objects through their lenses. It's already found quite a few planets in that way, some of them rogue.
Thanks for the write up, Alastair. I’ve read one estimate that rogue planets outnumber exoplanets orbiting stars by a considerable margin.
This is absolutely fascinating. Given the dust obscuring everything, can we look at these Jumbos through some non-EM gravitational lens?
These in Orion are close enough and bright enough to be visible directly to the James Webb, without the need for a gravitational lens. The dust is also less of a problem for infrared telescopes like the Webb, so we're quite fortunate at being able to see them.
Do we have the technology (,and the funding) to create a big science Super-LIGO that could look at a selected arc of the sky and just "see" objects by their gravitational signatures? Such as rogue planets, etc.? Sorry if this is a dumb question.
We can't detect a lens alone, what we need is something directly behind the lens that reveals its presence. We already have some telescopes that can spot objects in this way. Gaia has spotted quite a few lenses, and another observatory, OGLE, has dedicated itself to finding objects through their lenses. It's already found quite a few planets in that way, some of them rogue.