Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Researchers may find ninth planet or Planet X after examining observational data made about 40 years ago.
Researchers estimate the new planet could be three to five times larger than Earth, and could orbit the Sun at about 225 times Earth’s distance.
This was conveyed by Michael Rowan-Robinson, distinguished astronomer and Emeritus professor of astrophysics at Imperial College London. He came to that conclusion after examining hundreds of previous data collected by space telescopes.
The data are drawn from historical observations made by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), which was launched in 1983. IRAS was the first orbiting observatory to view the entire night sky in the infrared spectrum.
In 1983, Robinson also conducted a search for the 10th planet. Because, at that time Pluto was still considered the 9th planet. However, until 1991 he did not find evidence of it until finally concluded that there was no 10th planet.
However, now speculation of a 9th planet (after Pluto is no longer considered a planet) has resurfaced. Some astrophysicists believe it is behind Neptune’s orbit. This is what prompted Robinson to study the old data that he had previously collected.
Planet Nine has long been a subject of speculation. The reason is, Neptune was discovered in 1846 after astronomers discovered an oddity in the orbit of Uranus.
At that time, they found the planet’s orbit was slightly different from mathematical predictions. They realized that something was gravitationally interfering with Uranus. Upon further investigation, the object turned out to be the eighth planet or Neptune.
Neptune’s observations later led astronomers to believe there could be another planet out there, disrupting the orbit of the newly discovered world.
Pluto was discovered in 1930 by looking at objects on photographic plates, but still could not explain the movement of Neptune, as reported by Gizmodo.
Discovery of planet X
Rowan-Robinson decided to revisit the data from the IRAS ten-month mission to see if there was anything in the data that was still missing.
The professor paid close attention to objects moving slowly between observations. Doing so allowed him to rule out fast moving objects, such as comets or asteroids.
Rowan-Robinson said that the shift in the position of the candidate planets will occur due to parallax, because the Earth orbits the sun causing the IRAS position to change angle.
Reported from BGR, astronomers examined hundreds of sources in the data, however, three observations made in June, July, and September 1983 attracted most of Rowan-Robinson’s interest.
However, he recommended that astronomers examine the orbits of dwarf planets beyond Pluto. The examination may shed light on the observations he made.
(mrh/ex)
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