SPACE — Scientists have narrowed down the possible hiding place of the elusive Planet 9. The existence of another planet in the Solar System has long been detected, but scientists have not been able to find a replacement for Pluto’s status until now.
Now, they have ruled out more than three-quarters of the hypothetical world’s alleged orbital path. In a new study, astronomers believe they are close to discovering Planet Nine, at least within the next few years.
NINTH PLANET HYPOTHESIS:
– Size: 7 times larger than Earth
– Orbital Location: 500 – 600 AU from the Sun
– Orbital Time: 5,000 – 10,000 years
– Orbit Type: Oblique
– Natural Satellites: 20 months
Planet Nine, also known as Planet X, is a theoretical planet rumored to hover in the outer reaches of our Solar System. The Planet Nine hypothesis was first proposed in 2016 by Caltech astronomers Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin.
Also Read: Looking for Planet 9: Hypothetical Object with 20 Moons
The pair proposed their hypothesis after other astronomers detected a series of objects in the Kuiper Belt, a large disk of asteroids and comets beyond the orbit of Neptune. They have highly curved orbits around the sun.
Compared to the known planets, Planet Nine’s orbit is much more elliptical, or stretched out, and not in the same plane around the sun. Image: Getty Images
After analyzing the objects, Brown and Batygin concluded that only the gravitational pull of a massive planet could explain the orbital anomaly. Years later, Brown and Batygin and others revealed more pieces of the Planet Nine puzzle.
Among other things, this mysterious entity is likely seven times larger than Earth, making it the fifth largest planet in the Solar System. Then, it is likely located between 500 and 600 astronomical units (AU) from the sun. That means 500 to 600 times farther than Earth is from our home star.
However, there is still uncertainty regarding Planet Nine’s elliptical orbit. It likely takes between 5,000 and 10,000 years to complete one orbit. Its orbit is also likely to be slightly tilted compared to the orbits of other planets. All of this is thought to have caused all previous attempts to search for the planet to fail.
In new research uploaded to the arXiv preprint database on January 31, 2024, Brown, Batygin and Harvard University astrophysicist Matthew Holman used data from the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) observatory in Hawaii. They hunted Planet Nine along its suspected orbital path.
Also Read: Today’s History: Pluto Discovered as the Ninth Planet
The three analyzed 78 percent of the area where Planet Nine is likely to be located. Pan-STARRS can indeed see the area clearly, but Planet Nine remains invisible. Their research paper has not been peer-reviewed.
2024-02-29 12:27:00
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