It would be the fifth largest planet in the solar system. Remains to this date, no one has yet been observed. Konstantin Batygin Mike Brown and US researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltec) found indications that a ninth planet, very big, exist in our solar system, they said Wednesday.
Where is it located?
The object, dubbed “Ninth planet,” would have a mass of about ten times that of Earth and would be in an orbit twenty times farther than Neptune, which evolves around the sun at an average distance of 4.5 billion kilometers.
In fact this planet would conduct a complete orbit around the sun between 10 000 and 20 000 years, the researchers point out, Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology (Caltec) who made this discovery by means of mathematical models and computer simulations.
If their calculations are correct, the ninth planet dominated by its gravitational force its neighbors in the solar system, an area larger than those influenced by the known planets, note these astronomers, whose work is published in the Astronomical Journal. They showed how the existence of this planet helps explain the mysterious evolution of icy objects and debris that lie far in the solar system beyond Neptune in the Kuiper Belt. This area attractions include dwarf planets Pluto, Eris, Makemake and Haumea.
Pluto has long been considered the ninth planet of the solar system, but lost that status because it was too small. It is now classified as a dwarf planet. The new planet discovered will not have this problem: its mass would indeed be 5000 times that of Pluto.
Are we sure of its existence?
If the existence of this object, which has not been directly observed, was confirmed, it would be “the ninth planet” in our solar system, noted Mike Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy. “There has been so far only two planets discovered in our solar system since ancient times and in this case it would be the third,” he has said. “There are still a large part of our solar system to be discovered and it’s very exciting,” added astronomer.
“Although we were initially skeptical we are increasingly convinced of its existence by continuing our research,” says Konstantin Batygin, assistant professor of planetary science at Caltech. “For the first time in 150 years, we have strong indications that the inventory of the solar system is incomplete,” he adds.
Others prefer to be more cautious. This is the case of Robert Massey, deputy director of the Royal Astronomical Society in London, who was not involved in this research, these works “are really interesting.” But he said in a statement, “there is nothing definite yet … because it is a mathematical model.” There have been similar cases in the past where astronomers had predicted the presence of a planet that has never been found, said the scientist.
Where does this “prediction”?
The presence of the ninth planet not only helps explain the alignment of objects in the belt Kuiper but also the strange behavior of some body like Sedna. Discovered by Mike Brown in 2003, this object, unlike most others in the Kuiper belt, never approach very close to Neptune, indicating the gravitational influence of another planet.
These two astronomers continue to refine their simulations to learn about the orbit of the ninth planet and its influence on the distant part of the solar system. Mike Brown and other astronomers began to scan the sky with telescopes in search of the planet, encouraging the astronomical community to follow suit.
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