Latest news with #Neptune-sized
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Planet Nine really DOES exist, scientists say - as they reveal exactly how we could find the secret world
It's a question that has baffled scientists around the world for years. Is there really a ninth planet hiding in our solar system? And if so, how do we find it? Now, researchers from Rice University claim to have fresh evidence of Planet Nine - as well as a method to find it. Based on complex simulations, the team says there's around a 40 per cent chance that a Planet Nine-like object is hiding in our solar system. And if it does exist, it could be discovered using the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, they say. Located on a mountaintop in Chile, this observatory features the largest camera ever built - and is set to send back its first images within weeks. 'With its unparalleled ability to survey the sky in depth and detail, the observatory is expected to significantly advance the search for distant solar system objects, increasing the likelihood of either detecting Planet Nine or providing the evidence needed to rule out its existence,' the researchers said in a statement. Planet Nine is a hypothetical planet, first theorised by astronomers from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) back in 2016. Said to have a mass about five to 10 times that of Earth, this hypothetical, Neptune-sized planet would circle our sun on a highly elongated path, far beyond Pluto. If it does exist, Planet Nine could help to explain the unique orbits of some smaller objects in the Kupier Belt - a region of icy debris that extends far beyond the orbit of Neptune. In their new study, the team set out to understand whether or not Planet Nine could really exist. Using complex simulations, the team showed that wide-orbit planets like Planet Nine are not anomalies. Instead, they're natural by-products of a chaotic early phase in planetary system development, according to the team. 'Essentially, we're watching pinballs in a cosmic arcade,' said André Izidoro, lead author of the study. 'When giant planets scatter each other through gravitational interactions, some are flung far away from their star. 'If the timing and surrounding environment are just right, those planets don't get ejected, but rather they get trapped in extremely wide orbits.' The simulations showed that planets are pushed into these wide orbits by internal instabilities, before being stabilised by the gravitational influence of nearby stars. 'When these gravitational kicks happen at just the right moment, a planet's orbit becomes decoupled from the inner planetary system,' explained Nathan Kaib, co-author of the study. 'This creates a wide-orbit planet—one that's essentially frozen in place after the cluster disperses.' As for what this means for Planet Nine, the researchers say there's now a 40 per cent change that the world exists. 'Our simulations show that if the early solar system underwent two specific instability phases—the growth of Uranus and Neptune and the later scattering among gas giants—there is up to a 40% chance that a Planet Nine-like object could have been trapped during that time,' Dr Izidoro said. The team now hopes to use the Vera C. Rubin Observatory to prove the existence of Planet Nine once and for all. 'As we refine our understanding of where to look and what to look for, we're not just increasing the odds of finding Planet Nine,' Dr Izidoro added. 'We're opening a new window into the architecture and evolution of planetary systems throughout the galaxy.' PLANET NINE: ORBITS OF OBJECTS BEYOND NEPTUNE SUGGEST 'SOMETHING LARGE' IS THERE Astronomers believe that the orbits of a number of bodies in the distant reaches of the solar system have been disrupted by the pull of an as yet unidentified planet. First proposed by a group at CalTech in the US, this alien world was theorised to explain the distorted paths seen in distant icy bodies. In order to fit in with the data they have, this alien world - popularly called Planet Nine - would need to be roughly four times the size of Earth and ten times the mass. Researchers say a body of this size and mass would explain the clustered paths of a number of icy minor planets beyond Neptune. Its huge orbit would mean it takes between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make a single pass around the sun. The theoretical Planet Nine is based on the gravitational pull it exerts on these bodies, with astronomers confident it will be found in the coming years.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Sorry, Pluto: The solar system could have a 9th planet after all, astronomers say
A recent research paper suggests that a planet may exist far beyond Neptune — less than 20 years after the previous ninth planet, Pluto, was demoted. That research paper, accepted last month for publication in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, suggests that a Neptune-sized planet lies within the Kuiper Belt, an expanse of icy debris surrounding the solar system. Hints of this object, dubbed by the researchers as Planet Nine, were found in two photos taken by two infrared space telescopes in 1983 and 2006, the paper stated. Two researchers, National Tsing Hua University astronomy graduate student Terry Long Phan and his Ph.D. advisor Tomotsugu Goto, looked at the photos and found that it was enough time for a mysterious object in those photos to have moved. After they removed known sources such as stars from the photos, Phan and Goto noticed a dot with matching colors and brightness. The hypothesized planet's orbit around the sun would likely take around 10,000 years, California Institute of Technology astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin told Science. Brown and Batygin were not part of the Planet Nine research team, but both men previously suggested a 'Planet X' existed in the far reaches of the solar system. 'It's kind of fun that a paper that purports to find a candidate for Planet Nine is really finding something that would basically say that we were wrong the entire time,' Brown said to the scientific news website. Elsewhere, there are doubts. University of Regina astronomer Samantha Lawler told Science that Planet Nine's existence would be 'really cool ... But I'm not convinced, with current data, that you can't just go with the simplest explanation.' Phan and Goto will have to wait until later this year for more evidence of their findings, as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in the Atacama Desert in Chile is expected to scan the night sky, Science reported. With enough detail taken by the observatory's large digital camera, it could detect the ninth planet. Failed '70s-era Soviet spacecraft bound for Venus could soon crash back to Earth This 'Star Wars' Day, check out a moon that looks like iconic space station Pieces of Halley's Comet could leave glowing trails across the night sky Look up: This planet is about to pass through cosmic beehive in unique sky event Halley's Comet debris soon to leave glowing streaks in the sky Read the original article on MassLive.
Global News
06-05-2025
- Science
- Global News
A 9th planet in our solar system? Jury's out, but a candidate has emerged
For years, astronomers have been searching for a ninth planet in our solar system (after giving Pluto the old heave-ho and demoting it to a dwarf planet) and now researchers say they've found a promising candidate. The long-theorized Planet 9, which astronomers have speculated could be a Neptune-sized planet that has been lurking on the outer edge of the solar system, could explain the unusual clustering and movements of distant objects in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune, but tracking such a mass has largely been unfruitful. Now, a newly identified object spotted in two infrared sky surveys has renewed the question of whether the elusive and hypothetical Planet 9 actually exists. According to a new pre-print study, shared in late April and approved for publication in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia — but has not yet been peer-reviewed — researchers found a curious dot on infrared images taken 23 years apart that seems to be moving in a manner consistent with a large, distant planet. Story continues below advertisement 'I felt very excited,' study lead author Terry Phan, an astronomy doctoral student at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, told Science about his team's discovery. 'It's motivated us a lot.' As with all Planet 9 research, the findings have been met with skepticism — even the study's researchers acknowledge that the surveys have not provided enough data to determine the full orbit of a planetary candidate and that more observations will be needed. 1:54 Astronomers talk about evidence of 9th planet in our solar system Astronomer Mike Brown, who was first to propose the Planet 9 hypothesis in 2016 alongside colleague Konstantin Batygin, told Science that it's going to take more evidence that the infrared dots observed in the latest study correspond to a ninth planet. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy He told the publication that, by his own calculations, the candidate signal's orbit would be tilted roughly 120 degrees from the plane of the solar system, meaning it would actually orbit the Sun in the opposite direction than the other eight planets. According to his models, to explain the clustering and movement of other objects in the Kuiper belt, Planet 9 would need an orbit tilted roughly 15 to 10 degrees from the plane of the solar system. Story continues below advertisement This mismatch 'doesn't mean it's not there, but it means it's not Planet 9,' Brown said. 'I don't think this planet would have any of the effects on the solar system that we think we're seeing.' Brown's discovery of Eris, an icy world in the Kuiper Belt beyond Pluto, led to the reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf planet. He has been dubbed the 'Pluto Killer.' In 2016, he expressed his excitement about a possible replacement planet for the one he killed off. 'All those people who are mad that Pluto is no longer a planet can be thrilled to know that there is a real planet out there still to be found,' Brown said at the time. 'Now we can go and find this planet and make the solar system have nine planets once again.' In a NASA post, titled 'Is Planet X real?', the space agency lays out the research done by Brown and Batygin, summarizing how Planet 9 would behave and appear, if proven real. 'This hypothetical Neptune-sized planet would circle our Sun on a highly elongated path, far beyond Pluto. It could have a mass about 5 to 10 times that of Earth and orbit about 20 to 30 times farther from the Sun on average than Neptune. It would take between 10,000 and 20,000 Earth years to make one full orbit around the Sun,' the agency writes, adding that there are several lines of observational evidence pointing to the existence of a ninth planet. Story continues below advertisement While Planet 9's existence remains fully up in the air, more evidence could become available within a year or two, when a Chilean observatory that's currently under construction opens, giving a better glimpse into what lies at the edge of our solar system. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will use the world's largest digital camera to peer deeper into space than any predecessor. Earlier this year, Brown told NPR that there's no better telescope to help prove, or disprove, the existence of Planet 9. 'If you were to hand me a big wad of cash and say, 'Go build a telescope to go either find this Planet 9 or find the best evidence possible for Planet 9,' I would probably go and build the Vera Rubin Observatory,' Brown said. 'It really is a telescope that is perfectly suited for making the next step.' Story continues below advertisement Even if they aren't able to actually observe a new planet, he added, the Rubin observatory should give astronomers enough new data to prove whether his hypothesis and observed patterns of objects in the Kuiper belt hold up. 'I think that what Vera Rubin will definitively do,' says Brown, 'is tell us whether we're crazy or not.'
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A 9th planet in our solar system might be found — and no, it's not Pluto
There have been questions about a mysterious ninth planet in our solar system for nearly a decade. Pluto was unseated as number nine in 2006. Now, a group of international researchers say they may have found a candidate — although nothing is certain. 'I felt very excited,' Terry Long Phan, an astronomy graduate student at Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University, told Science this week. 'It's motivated us a lot.' Phan was the lead author of the findings in a study that has been accepted for publication in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. The research was initially posted to the preprint server arXiv. The researchers used surveys of the sky from two infrared space telescopes that were launched in 1983 and 2006. They theorized that a potential planet's long orbit would enable them to see it move across the sky. They found 13 pairs of dots that could be explained by a moving planet that resembled Planet Nine. One set of dots had matching colors and brightness. But, the announcement has been met with some skepticism. Mike Brown, an astronomer at Caltech who was part of the team responsible for the hypothesis in 2016, told the publication he isn't convinced that the infrared dots Phan and his team identified out of old, infrared satellite data is a ninth planet. His calculations suggested the body would be on a much greater tilt than the solar system's plane and would orbit in a different direction from the known planets. This difference "doesn't mean it's not there, but it means it's not Planet Nine," Brown told Science. "I don't think this planet would have any of the effects on the solar system that we think we're seeing." But, if the researchers are right, their planet would disprove the original planet. They would make each other's orbits unstable and could not exist together, he explained. 'It's kind of fun that a paper that purports to find a candidate for Planet Nine is really finding something that would basically say that we were wrong the entire time,' he noted. However, skepticism doesn't mean there's nothing there. The argument for the planet has to do with the Kuiper Belt: a region of icy debris far beyond Neptune's orbit. The hypothetical planet would explain some strange orbits of the objects there. Theoretically, the Neptune-sized planet Brown and his colleague Konstantin Batygin found would orbit about 20 to 30 times farther from the sun than Neptune, taking between 10,000 and 20,000 Earth years to make one full orbit around our star. "Although we were initially quite skeptical that this planet could exist, as we continued to investigate its orbit and what it would mean for the outer solar system, we become increasingly convinced that it is out there," Batygin, an assistant professor of planetary science, said in 2016. "For the first time in over 150 years, there is solid evidence that the solar system's planetary census is incomplete." No observational evidence for Planet Nine has been found, although this is not the first time a candidate has been identified in infrared data. The last time was in 2021. Some researchers even posit that evidence pointing toward the existence of an undiscovered ninth planet may actually indicate our ideas of gravity are incorrect. Only time will be able to shed light on the truth of the matter. Astronomers will have a closer look using the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory on Chile's Cerro Pachón mountain. 'It is pretty amazing to think that something as big as Neptune could be sitting out there and no one would have ever noticed it,' Gary Bernstein, an astronomer at the University of Pennsylvania, told Science. 'But if you put it far enough away, it gets fainter and fainter very fast.'
The Independent
03-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
A 9th planet in our solar system might be found — and no, it's not Pluto
There have been questions about a mysterious ninth planet in our solar system for nearly a decade. Pluto was unseated as number nine in 2006. Now, a group of international researchers say they may have found a candidate — although nothing is certain. 'I felt very excited,' Terry Long Phan, an astronomy graduate student at Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University, told Science this week. 'It's motivated us a lot.' Phan was the lead author of the findings in a study that has been accepted for publication in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. The research was initially posted to the preprint server arXiv. The researchers used surveys of the sky from two infrared space telescopes that were launched in 1983 and 2006. They theorized that a potential planet's long orbit would enable them to see it move across the sky. They found 13 pairs of dots that could be explained by a moving planet that resembled Planet Nine. One set of dots had matching colors and brightness. But, the announcement has been met with some skepticism. Mike Brown, an astronomer at Caltech who was part of the team responsible for the hypothesis in 2016, told the publication he isn't convinced that the infrared dots Phan and his team identified out of old, infrared satellite data is a ninth planet. His calculations suggested the body would be on a much greater tilt than the solar system's plane and would orbit in a different direction from the known planets. This difference "doesn't mean it's not there, but it means it's not Planet Nine," Brown told Science. "I don't think this planet would have any of the effects on the solar system that we think we're seeing." But, if the researchers are right, their planet would disprove the original planet. They would make each other's orbits unstable and could not exist together, he explained. 'It's kind of fun that a paper that purports to find a candidate for Planet Nine is really finding something that would basically say that we were wrong the entire time,' he noted. However, skepticism doesn't mean there's nothing there. The argument for the planet has to do with the Kuiper Belt: a region of icy debris far beyond Neptune's orbit. The hypothetical planet would explain some strange orbits of the objects there. Theoretically, the Neptune-sized planet Brown and his colleague Konstantin Batygin found would orbit about 20 to 30 times farther from the sun than Neptune, taking between 10,000 and 20,000 Earth years to make one full orbit around our star. "Although we were initially quite skeptical that this planet could exist, as we continued to investigate its orbit and what it would mean for the outer solar system, we become increasingly convinced that it is out there," Batygin, an assistant professor of planetary science, said in 2016. "For the first time in over 150 years, there is solid evidence that the solar system's planetary census is incomplete." No observational evidence for Planet Nine has been found, although this is not the first time a candidate has been identified in infrared data. The last time was in 2021. Some researchers even posit that evidence pointing toward the existence of an undiscovered ninth planet may actually indicate our ideas of gravity are incorrect. the Vera C. Rubin Observatory on Chile's Cerro Pachón mountain. 'It is pretty amazing to think that something as big as Neptune could be sitting out there and no one would have ever noticed it,' Gary Bernstein, an astronomer at the University of Pennsylvania, told Science. 'But if you put it far enough away, it gets fainter and fainter very fast.'
