A 27-year-old astrophysicist from Sandbach working at the European Space Agency in the Netherlands has helped make a major breakthrough in space.

Dr Sam Pearson, a former student of Sandbach School who grew up in the town, worked on a project involving the hi-tech James Webb Space Telescope.

The astrophysicist used the telescope to look at the Orion Nebula, a region of star formation 1,350 light-years from Earth.

What he and a colleague found was quite remarkable, as he explained to Sandbach Nub News.

"We found 540 planetary mass objects - these are objects that have similar masses to planets but do not orbit a host star", said Dr Pearson, a research fellow at the European Space Agency (ESA).

"What makes our observations so exciting is that this is the first time we have seen such low mass objects.

"What was really unexpected is that we found some of these objects floating in pairs.

"We have named this new class of object Jupiter Mass Binary Objects or JuMBOs.

"Physics says that JuMBOs shouldn't exist, but we can see them (42 of them to be specific).

"This means that there is something wrong with either our understanding of planet formation, star formation — or both.

"We are able to see these objects for the first time because the James Webb Space Telescope is so powerful and can see much fainter things."

Dr Sam Pearson is a former pupil of Sandbach School but now works at the European Space Agency. (Image: Dr Sam Pearson)

Dr Pearson, who studied at Edinburgh University before doing a doctorate at St Andrew's, said the breakthrough would have been "completely impossible" without the new telescope.

Media from all over the world have picked up on the story from the New York Times to The Guardian.

Now Dr Pearson and other scientists will use the telescope to further their understanding of this complex subject.

Based at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, Dr Pearson and colleagues will continue their work.

"I always found stars, physics and problem solving interesting," said Dr Pearson whose parents still live in Wheelock, Sandbach.

"I always loved this subject at school and knew I wanted to follow a career in this area." 

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