Ticker

6/recent/ticker-posts

'Hidden' planet at edge of our solar system could be five times the size of Earth



Some scientists suspect that a massive planet that has never been observed by astronomers may be lurking, almost covertly, near the shadowy fringes of our solar system.

Astronomers had located all eight major planets by 1846, and since then, several more 'dwarf planets,' including Pluto, have been discovered.

But, Sara Webb, a space scientist, claimed that efforts are still being made to find the enigmatic "ninth planet," which is believed to be located far beyond Neptune in our solar system.

There is a ton of evidence for the planet, which is believed huge be up to 20 times further from the Sun than Neptune, but it might not be able to observe with current equipment.

The enormous, undiscovered planet is estimated to be ten times as big as Earth and to have an orbital period of 10,000–20,000 years.

There's a solid reason scientists spend many hundreds of hours attempting to find a ninth planet, often known as Planet Nine or Planet X, according to Webb of Swinburne University in Australia. And the reason for that is because without it, the solar system as we currently understand it would be absurd. Our best indication of a potential Planet Nine comes from our knowledge of gravitational attraction.

"We discover that the orbits of truly far-off objects, such the minor planets beyond Pluto, are a little surprising. They are clustered together, have extremely massive elliptical (oval-shaped) orbits, and are situated on an elevation in relation to the rest of the solar system.

"A planet at least 10 times the mass of Earth would have been required to cause this," say scientists after modeling the gravitational forces necessary for these objects to travel in this way on computers.

A scientist from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) previously proposed that Planet Nine may be five times the size of Earth in addition to existing.

"With five Earth masses, Planet Nine is likely to be highly evocative of a normal extrasolar super-Earth," stated Professor Konstantin Batygin.

Like our planet, super-Earths are rocky bodies. but enormously larger.

It might take up to 1,000 years before the planet is discovered since it is so distant from the Sun and is thus expected to be quite dark on the planet.

Some scientists think that there could indeed be a large disc of frozen objects out there.

Because of a new generation of space telescopes, Webb is confident that Planet Nine will be discovered sooner rather than later.

She claimed that locating the enormous object presents particular difficulties.

"The ideal circumstances can only exist for brief periods of time at night. To be more precise, we must wait for a night without a moon and one in which the position from where we are viewing the sky faces the proper direction.

"New telescopes will be constructed and new sky surveys will start in the coming ten years. They could even provide us with the chance to confirm or deny the existence of Planet Nine.