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For years, scientists have been meticulously probing the farthest reaches of our solar system in search of a mysterious planet . Two new articles, one published in the Astronomical Journal and another, published on arXiv (still awaiting peer review) reinforce the theory of the existence of this famous planet, soberly named “Planet 9”.
Clues in the orbits of the TNO
It is the work of Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin, planetary researchers from Caltech and co-authors of the two studies, which highlights the preponderant role of trans-Neptunian objects (TNO). The latter are celestial bodies orbiting the Sun at a distance greater than that of Neptune, itself being the planet farthest from our star.
In 2004 , Caltech researchers discovered what remains to this day the most famous of these objects: Sedna, a dwarf planet, moving in a fairly atypical orbit. A discovery which prompted scientists to propose the hypothesis of another celestial body which would exert a gravitational influence on it.
These objects have an unusual orbit, which would suggest that an undetected and distant planet would have a gravitational influence on them. As the elliptical and inclined trajectories of these objects are not easily explained by interactions with known planets, it is likely that a massive planet is influencing them , at the edge of the Solar System.
This disruption of their orbits by an unknown force was reported in a paper in the journal Scientific American on April 15 of this year. But where is this Planet 9 hidden ?
The quest continues with new tools
For the moment, no direct observations of this planethypothetical could not be realized. This is why Batygin and Brown insist on the usefulness of the next generations of space observatories to continue this research.
They therefore place great hopes in the future Observatory Vera C. Rubin, a huge American telescope under construction in northern Chile. This is planned to be operational in 2025 and will be able to detect the northernmost and weakest positions predicted for Planet 9. An immense progress which will mark “ a phase of&# 8217;promising exploration that could elucidate the mysteries of the outer boundary of our solar system ”, as mentioned in their publication on arXiv. The quest for Planet 9 is therefore far from over, and the tools of tomorrow will certainly help confirm the presence of this hidden planet.
- The quest to discover the existence of Planet 9 continues.
- Two recently published articles highlight the importance of TNOs for understanding how they could be influenced by a hidden planet.
- Future tools, such as the&# 8217;Vera C. Rubin Observatory, will surely further help the scientific community with this research.
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