Since Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet in 2006, Neptune has been considered the outermost planet in our solar system. However, due to the unusual orbits of celestial bodies in the Kuiper Belt, astronomers assume that there is another previously unknown planet: ‘Planet 9’. A computer simulation now provides evidence for this thesis.
No one has ever seen “Planet 9,” which orbits far beyond Neptune. However, a small team of planetary researchers from the California Institute of Technology, the Université Côte d’Azur and the Southwest Research Institute now report possible new clues to “Planet 9.”
As the team led by Konstantin Batygin and Michael E. Brown of the California Institute of Technology reports in advance via ArXiv.org and in the journal “The Astrophysical Journal Letters,” they have tracked the orbital motions of numerous trans-Neptunian objects in space simulated. various computer simulations.
Position could not be determined
Based on computer simulations, the researchers conclude that the most plausible explanation for the objects’ behavior is interference with the gravity of a large, distant planet (i.e. “Planet 9”). Unfortunately, the simulations were not the kind that would allow researchers to determine the planet’s position in the solar system.
Batygin and Brown had already provided evidence for the existence of a ninth planet in our solar system in 2016. The celestial body was about ten times as massive as the Earth, they said at the time. ‘Planet 9’ orbits the sun at an average distance twenty times greater than Neptune, currently the farthest known planet in our solar system.
Smaller version of Uranus and Neptune?
This means the planet is so far from its central star that it will likely take 10,000 to 20,000 years to orbit the sun, the duo reported in the journal Nature. The researchers believe the mysterious celestial body is a small ice giant with a shell of hydrogen and helium – essentially a smaller version of Uranus and Neptune.
The researchers now hope that their theory can soon be put to the test using the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a long-viewing reflecting telescope currently under construction in Chile and expected to be ready in 2025. When he scans the firmament for the first time next year, he could make the first discovery of a new planet in almost 180 years.
Source: Krone
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