According to an old theory, far from the orbits of the eight known giant planets, in the outer region of the solar system, a huge icy planet orbits the Sun, waiting for humanity to discover it. According to the hopes of researchers, in a few years we will be able to take a closer look at this mysterious celestial body with the most modern telescope ever, which is scheduled to begin operating at the end of 2025.
Currently, the solar system officially includes 8 planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. In the past, Pluto was also classified as a planet, but in 2006 it was downgraded to a dwarf planet. In addition to all this, astronomers have suggested that there may be a ninth planet after Neptune. This planet is referred to as Planet Nine or Planet X in technical language.
Scientists have estimated the planet's mass and the parameters of its orbit around the Sun, but so far the mysterious celestial body has managed to “escape” the detection devices of telescopes. However, according to experts, we may soon be able to put an end to the matter: the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will begin operating in 2025 and, with its advanced detectors, will create a more detailed picture of our solar system than ever before.
“It’s very difficult to explain the dynamics of the solar system without Planet Nine, but we can’t be sure it’s there until we see it,” said Mike Brown, one of the authors of the Planet Nine theory.
Planet Nine Theory
For a long time, people believed that there were no more massive celestial bodies in the Solar System beyond Neptune and the Kuiper Belt, which lies beyond it and contains mostly small celestial bodies. However, in 2004, the discovery of an asteroid called Sedna beyond the Kuiper Belt turned these theories upside down: the asteroid's unusual path allowed astronomers to conclude that there was likely a massive body in the outer Solar System that was also influencing Sedna's orbit. Later, in 2014, the asteroid 2012 VP113 was also discovered in the Kuiper Belt, whose orbit was similar to Sedna's, and in the following years, four more objects with eccentric orbits beyond Neptune were identified. Although the theory of Planet Nine initially seemed impossible, according to Brown and his colleagues, nothing else could explain the motion of the six small celestial bodies mentioned. However, the existence of Planet Nine is currently only a theoretical assumption, as there is currently no direct evidence for it.
After sharing the Planet Nine theory with the professional community in 2016, researchers continued their search for Planet Nine. Although Planet Nine itself has yet to be found, 13 other small celestial bodies have been discovered since then whose movements indirectly suggest its existence. By examining them, Brown’s group made estimates of Planet Nine’s likely size, distance from the Sun, and orbit. These estimates put the planet’s mass at about 7 times that of Earth, making it the fifth-largest planet in the Solar System after the four outer planets. It is likely to be similar in composition to Neptune, so its diameter could be about twice that of Earth, and it may have several smaller moons orbiting it, as is typical for other gas giants in our Solar System. Based on the calculations, Planet Nine’s average orbital distance from the Sun is 500 astronomical units, or 500 times the distance between the Sun and Earth, meaning it completes one orbit around the Sun in about 5,000–10,000 years. Since the assumed orbit is not a circle, but an elongated ellipse, the distance from the Sun is constantly changing as it moves in orbit. This fact makes identifying the planet more difficult.
Some theories suggest that Planet Nine is a wandering planet that was captured by the Sun's gravity after being thrown out of the system in which it formed, but Brown says it's more likely that Planet Nine formed inside the solar system, like the known eighth giant planet.
There are also many scientists who do not share their views on the existence of Planet Nine and consider the movement of the 13 objects beyond Neptune in eccentric orbits to be a measurement error, or believe that instead of Planet Nine it can be explained by a small black hole, an invisible dust cloud, or even an encounter with a wandering planet.
Many may ask: If Planet Nine exists, why hasn't it been found yet? According to Brown, the main difficulty is that the object is so far away from us and so faint. Despite the difficulties, the researchers did not give up the fight: using data from the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS), they were able to significantly narrow down the region where the planet is likely to be located.
When will we find him?
However, to find the mysterious planet, better telescopes are needed. Brown and his colleague Batygin have already begun analyzing data from Japan’s Subaru telescope, but they believe the mystery will be solved once and for all by the next telescope, the epoch-making Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which will be built by the end of 2025. This ground-based telescope will have the world’s largest digital camera, giving us a glimpse into the outer solar system as deep as the James Webb Space Telescope into the distant universe.
Many believe that the Planet Nine theory is doomed to fail if it is not identified within two years using the new telescope. However, other researchers are less pessimistic: even if we cannot find the planet, there is a very good chance that we will be able to discover celestial bodies in the Kuiper Belt with orbits similar to Sedna’s, which will bring us closer to the final conclusion. Proving the theory in small steps.
It would probably not be an exaggeration to declare that the discovery of Planet Nine would be the discovery of the century for the Solar System: if this celestial body could be identified, we could obtain answers to open questions about the origin and evolution of the Solar System, among other things, and we could learn more deeply about the properties of giant gas planets orbiting distant stars.
Article source: https://www.space.com/planet-nine-is-the-search-nearly-over
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