Discover the New Candidate for Planet Nine: A Celestial Body 700 Times Farther from the Sun than Earth!

Just because Pluto was reclassified as a non-planet in 2006 doesn’t mean our solar system has only eight planets. The search for a hypothetical Planet Nine continues, with exciting hints emerging from the depths of space beyond Neptune.

Recently, a team of international scientists identified a promising candidate for Planet Nine by comparing infrared surveys of the sky taken 23 years apart. They found an object that seems to have shifted position over time—exactly what we’d expect from a distant planet in orbit around the sun.

This might be the strongest evidence yet for Planet Nine’s existence. It’s thought to be five to ten times larger than Earth and could have a wildly different orbit compared to our known planets.

Finding Planet Nine

In 2021, British astronomer Michael Rowan-Robinson analyzed old data from NASA’s Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), which scanned the sky back in 1983. During his review, he spotted a candidate for Planet Nine, estimated to be three to five times the mass of Earth and located about 225 AU (astronomical units) from the sun.

However, this initial find wasn’t confirmed since it didn’t appear in other datasets. Recently, Patrick Phan and his team employed a new method, combining IRAS data with images from Japan’s AKARI satellite taken in 2006. Their findings indicated that while an object observed by IRAS had drifted, AKARI captured another object nearby—just 47.4 arcminutes away. This distance aligns with how far a planet like Planet Nine could have moved in 23 years.

Significance of the Motion

The movement of this object is key. If it’s moving so gradually, it likely resides far beyond our sun, potentially on a long orbital path. The fact that it appears in both the IRAS and AKARI surveys strengthens the case for its existence. The brightness measured in both datasets suggests that this object might even be larger than Neptune. Initially, researchers expected it to be smaller, possibly a super-Earth, but it fits the characteristics of the elusive Planet Nine better than any previous find.

Its suspected orbit is remarkably different. While Neptune orbits at about 30 AU (around 4.5 billion kilometers), Planet Nine might swing anywhere from 280 AU to a staggering 1,120 AU from the sun, placing it over 700 times farther away than Earth. Such an unpredictable orbit raises intriguing questions: Did this planet form with the solar system, or was it captured from another star?

Evidence Still Needed

While the prospect of discovering a new planet is thrilling, we still need more proof. If confirmed, Planet Nine would be the first planet found through indirect evidence rather than close observation, almost like detecting a ghost through its influence on other objects.

The possibility of exploring our solar system’s make-up would deepen our understanding of its evolution and dynamics. The authors of the study emphasize the importance of further observational studies to clarify Planet Nine’s existence and enhance our knowledge of the solar system’s structure.

Interestingly, NASA’s more recent WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) surveys did not detect this object, which Phan speculates may be due to its movement from the 2006 position. Future observations will be crucial in validating these findings.

Conclusion

The quest for Planet Nine is a fascinating chapter in the study of our solar system. As technologies and observational methods improve, we’ll surely learn more about the cosmic neighbors that may be hiding in the dark corners of space. Keep an eye on the skies; who knows what other secrets they may reveal?

For further reading, check the official NASA page on Planet X and the latest research on this study in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.

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Astronomy, Planet 9, Planet Nine, Solar System, Space