by Jupiter-sized "planets" free-floating in space, unconnected to any star, have been spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
What's intriguing about the discovery is that these objects appear to be moving in pairs. Astronomers are currently struggling to explain them.
The telescope observed about 40 pairs in a fabulously detailed new survey of the famous Orion Nebula.
One possibility is that these objects grew out of regions in the nebula where the density of material was insufficient to make fully fledged stars.
Another possibility is that they were made around stars and were then kicked out into interstellar space through various interactions.
"The ejection hypothesis is the favoured one at the moment," said Prof Mark McCaughrean.
"Gas physics suggests you shouldn't be able to make objects with the mass of Jupiter on their own, and we know single planets can get kicked out from star systems. But how do you kick out pairs of these things together?
Is it possible that the same forces which catapulted them out of the system also tore them apart so that they continued on gravitationally bound? Rather than there being 2 and only 2, perhaps there are accompanying smaller bodies which are beyond resolution at the moment.
