A Radio Counterpart to a Jupiter-mass Binary Object in Orion

Abstract

Using James Webb Space Telescope near-infrared data of the inner Orion Nebula, Pearson & McCaughrean detected 40 Jupiter-mass binary objects (JuMBOs). These systems are not associated with stars and their components have masses of giant Jupiter-like planets and separations in the plane of the sky of order ∼100 au. The existence of these wide free-floating planetary-mass binaries was unexpected in our current theories of star and planet formation. Here we report the radio continuum (6.1 and 10.0 GHz) Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array detection of a counterpart to JuMBO 24. The radio emission appears to be steady at a level of ∼50 μJy over timescales of days and years. We set an upper limit of ≃15 km s−1 to the velocity of the radio source in the plane of the sky. As in the near-infrared, the radio emission seems to be coming from both components of the binary.