2024-04-22 15:23:35
It is one of the greatest mysteries in our solar system: a previously undiscovered celestial body. Now there are new clues to “Planet Nine”.
Does it exist now or not? For years, researchers have been looking for evidence of a ninth planet in our solar system. They keep finding clues that could point to his existence. Now there is supposedly the “strongest statistical evidence yet” that “Planet Nine” exists.
This is reported by the British newspaper “The Independent”, citing a scientific paper by astronomer Konstantin Bogytin from the California Institute of Technology at the University of Pasadena. Bogytin has been a big advocate of the “Planet Nine” theory for years.
He and his team examined objects on the edge of our solar system, which are located beyond the planet Neptune. Many of these objects lie in the Kuiper Belt, 250 times further from the Sun than Earth.
The researchers examined celestial bodies there in order to be able to understand their sometimes “unstable” movements. In simulations, they included objects that interact with celestial bodies such as Neptune, passing stars and tidal forces that act on objects in our solar system – so-called “galactic tides”.
Computer simulations only allowed one conclusion
The simulations showed that the unusual movement of the objects could best be explained if the gravitational effect of the previously undiscovered ninth planet was included in the calculations. Although there are other theories that explain the behavior of the objects, the “Planet Nine” theory is the most plausible so far, the researchers claim.
Scientists are hoping for a breakthrough in the search for “Planet Nine” when the Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile goes into operation. The giant telescope is scheduled to begin operations next year and will be used, among other things, to research objects in the Kuiper Belt.
“This upcoming phase of exploration promises crucial insights into the mysteries of the outer reaches of our solar system,” writes Bogytin’s team in their scientific article, which is available on the “arxiv.org” platform.
Other researchers also believe in “Planet Nine”
A few weeks ago, a research group also published new observations on “Planet Nine” in “The Astronomical Journal”. The scientists led by astronomer Patryk Sofia Lykawka from Kindai University in Japan had discovered through computer simulations that the orbit of various objects there could only be explained by the presence of a planet.
An Earth-like planet would explain the observed anomalies, it was said. It would be up to three times larger than Earth and about 500 times further from the Sun than our planet.
The currently known planets in our solar system are Earth, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune.