Japanese scientists studying the movement of objects in the Kuiper Belt think that there may be a planet in the Solar System that looks remarkably like Earth. Using advanced simulations, they found that it could explain the unusual motions of objects beyond Neptune’s orbit.
A mysterious planet similar to Earth, according to scientists, is located in the Kuiper belt, beyond the orbit of Neptune. Illustrative slide | Photo: Shutterstock
One of the biggest puzzles plaguing astrophysics is whether in Solar system they hide undiscovered planets. According to a new study, there really should be an Earth-like world beyond Neptune. It should also be a different body than the one under discussion planet nine.
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Behind the latest study is a pair of planetary scientists Patryk Sofie Lykawka from Kindai University in Japan and Takashi Ito of the Japan National Astronomical Observatory. According to their assumptions, the planet should weigh 1.5 to 3 times more than Earth and should also orbit at a distance of 250 to 500 AU from the Sun.
For comparison, Pluto is located an average of forty astronomical units away Sun. If the planet really existed, it would be on it, according to the portal Earth temperatures were too low to preclude life as we know it.
The planet would be according to the portal Science Alert it could occur in the region beyond Neptune and at the same time would explain the strange phenomena happening there. In the so-called Kuiper belt, there are a number of dwarf planets and icy rocks, which are called trans-Neptunian bodies (TNOs).
Objects cluster in this location and move together in groups on differently inclined paths. According to experts, this indicates that they have to take their toll by gravity appear to be a much larger body than they have ever observed.
Gravity model
Researchers according to the magazine Discover created a gravity model of the Solar System to simulate how an Earth-like planet might affect distant bodies.
“We determined that an Earth-like planet could explain three fundamental properties of the distant Kuiper Belt, namely a significant population of TNOs with orbits outside of gravitational influence Neptunua significant population of objects with high orbital inclinations, which puts them out of the plane of the rest of the Solar System, and the existence of some extreme objects with peculiar orbits,” they wrote in a study published in The Astronomical Journal.
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A planet could explain why objects in a given location have an inclination greater than 45 degrees, as well as shed light on the extraordinary and elongated orbits of other bodies.
In addition to the hypothetical planet, experts have reported the existence of multiple trans-Neptunian objects that they believe may serve as testable signatures of the planet’s existence. According to experts, only a more detailed knowledge of the orbital structure in the Kuiper belt can rule out or confirm its existence.
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The presence of Planet Nine assumed by scientists since 2012, its existence was first officially announced by astronomers from the California Institute of Technology four years later. It was supposed to explain the strange properties of the orbits of objects in the Kuiper belt.
To date, scientists have found only indirect evidence for its existence, specifically, they derived its occurrence from mathematical models of current TNO movements.
2023-09-05 13:40:28
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