In space, researchers have discovered a portal from which asteroids arrive

There are several zones in the solar system where there are many asteroids. Between Jupiter and Neptune they are called centaurs. They passed through the cosmic gate from the edge of the planetary system.

Do you know the centaurs Chiron, Pholus and Nessus? These are asteroids that orbit the Sun between the planets Jupiter and Neptune. Astronomers have long assumed that these rocky chunks were originally located in the so-called Kuiper belt, a region at the edge of our solar system that is home to a huge number of asteroids.

According to experts, there are more than 35,000 celestial bodies with a diameter of more than 100 kilometers. In the event of a collision, they can be knocked off course so that they fly into the solar system, and then be picked up by the gravity of the giant planets.

In 2019, in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, scientists from the University of Central Florida reported the discovery of a “space gate” through which celestial bodies from the Kuiper belt fly, and some of them are captured by Jupiter’s gravity and become a centaur.

Scientists from Gala Sarid and Maria Womack calculated the orbits of several centaurs using computer simulations and found that they always flew through the “gate”. “It’s like a cradle for comets,” says Sarid. “This discovery will change our understanding of these celestial bodies.”