The existence of three moons on earth has been verified by a team of astronomers in Hungary. According to Hungarian scientists, these moons orbit the earth 250,000 miles apart, or nearly the same distance as the moon, and are formed solely of dust.
It’s interesting to note that the existence of these two celestial entities has been a subject of discussion ever since Polish astronomer Kazimierz Kordylewski spotted two enigmatic clouds that later became known as the Kordylewski dust clouds in 1961. The Polish scientist also mentioned that it’s possible for these dust clouds to be revolving around the globe between the L4 and L5 Lagrange points. These dust clouds are essentially fake satellites that circle the planet, according to more recent studies of these celestial entities.
“The Kordylewski clouds are two of the toughest objects to find, and though they are as close to Earth as the moon, are largely overlooked by researchers in astronomy. It is intriguing to confirm that our planet has dusty pseudo-satellites in orbit alongside our lunar neighbor,” said Judit Slíz-Balogh, an astronomer at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary and the co-author of the study.
Experts claim that these satellite clouds have been hidden from view for so long because they are so weak. However, occasionally these dust clouds seem bright because of the sun’s reflection. Researchers used sophisticated polarizing filters on their cameras during the investigation, and they eventually found the dispersed light bouncing off the individual dust particles within the dust clouds.
Despite the Hungarian researchers’ confirmation of the presence of two more moons circling the earth, other space experts contend that these enigmatic dust clouds may simply be a passing phenomena. These naysayers contend that the enormous dust clouds observed by the researchers in this study may simply be swept away by solar winds or other planets’ gravitational interactions.
It is not the first time that fresh insights from space research are altering how we view the solar system. A few weeks ago, some scientists proposed that Planet Nine, a rogue space entity, may be lurking beyond Neptune in the solar system. The researchers also found that Planet Nine lives in an area of space that is excessively dark, which may be the cause of the difficulty that present observatories on Earth have finding this space body.