Ghost moons, the enigma discovered by a Polish astronomer in Earth’s orbit

The Kordylewski dust clouds appearing at Lagrange points

Ghost moons, the enigma discovered by a Polish astronomer in Earth's orbit

@explorandoinfo EspPol 5·29·2025 · 22:42 0

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Even today, with all the advances in astronomy and the space race, there are still astronomical phenomena that we do not fully understand. An example of this are the "ghost moons" discovered in 1961 by the Polish astronomer Kazimierz Kordylewski (1903-1981), clouds of dust accumulated around the Lagrange points in the Earth-Moon system. With the characteristic patriotism that characterizes his people, who have given great talents to astronomy (such as Nicolaus Copernicus), Kordylewski wanted to name these clouds "Polish moons".

The Lagrange points or libration points. Kordylewski dust clouds appear at points L4 and L5 (Image: NASA).

These ghost moons, commonly known as "Kordylewski dust clouds" (KDCs), are concentrated at the Lagrange points or libration points, specifically at the L4 and L5 points (Kordylewski discovered the first cloud at the latter), where a relatively small object can remain stationary within the Earth-Moon system. The problem is that KDCs haven't always been visible, which has sparked debate about their existence for decades.

Kazimierz Kordylewski, the discoverer of the KDCs, explaining his observation of one of these clouds at the L5 Lagrange point on a blackboard at the Astronomical Observatory in Krakow in 1961 (Photo: PAP/Lewicki).

Finally, on September 1, 2018, a study published by the Royal Astronomical Society of the United Kingdom, signed by Hungarian astronomers Judit Slíz-Balogh, András Barta, Gábor Horváth, confirmed the existence of the Kordylewski dust clouds. Until then, the clouds were so faint that they could only be captured with certain photographic procedures used by astronomers. Furthermore, they have not always been visible due to various factors, such as solar winds. Furthermore, KDCs vary in shape and can be up to nine times the size of Earth.

An artist's impression of the Kordylewski dust cloud at the L5 Lagrange point (Image: Gábor Horváth / sci.news).

To this day, the origin of KDCs remains an enigma. The origin of these tiny particles that cluster at the L4 and L5 Lagrange points is unknown, and it is very difficult to observe them up close, as they are almost imperceptible to the naked eye. If you want to learn more about this fascinating question, I encourage you to watch this video published this Tuesday by the Astrum channel: