Discovered a possible trace of the mysterious Planet Nine, analyzing infrared data collected by two spatial satellites after 23 years.
An international group of astronomers, led by Terry Long Phan of the TSing Hua National University of Taiwan, identified a potential candidate for the much discussed “planet nine”, analyzing infrared data collected by two space satellites after 23 years. This discovery could represent a significant step in the search for This hypothetical planet located on the borders of our sun system.
A hypothetical planet beyond Neptune. The idea of the possible existence of a Planet nine was proposed in 2016 From the astronomers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology. According to their observations, the orbit of some objects in the Kuiper belt showed anomalies that could be explained by the presence of a large planet not yet observed directly.
Estimates suggest that This celestial body could have a mass between 7 and 17 times that of the Earth and orbit at a distance between 500 and 700 astronomical units (UA) from the sun. It should be remembered that an astronomical unit corresponds to about 150,000,000 kilometers.
Analysis of infrared data. PHAN group examined the data collected by the IRAS satellite (infrared astronomical satellite) in 1983 and by the Japanese satellite Akari, operational between 2006 and 2011. Using the Akari Far-Infred Monthly Unconfered Source List (Akari-Musl), they looked for objects that had moved slowly in the sky over the course of 23 years, would wait for a distant planet.
After an in -depth analysis, they were identified 13 candidatessubsequently reduced to only one who shows the expected characteristics: a “angular separation between 42 and 69.6 Arminin“and absence of detections of other objects in the same position in both eras. For those who are fasting in understanding these distances it can be said that the”corner separation“ It indicates the apparent distance in the sky between two points (in this case, the position of a possible celestial object observed in two different moments), measured in minutes of arc, where 1 degree = 60 minutes of arc (Armin). Hence, 42–69.6 Arminin correspond to 0.7–1.16 degrees. This indicates that The object has little moved to the sky over the course of 23 years, a behavior compatible with a very distant object as the possible planet nine.
A problem of size. Based on the brightness recorded in the infrared images of Iras and Akari, Phan hypothesizes that the identified object may be even more massive than Neptune. An unexpected result, considering that the team had started looking for a celestial body of the size of a super-term. The figure also surprises in the light of the previous observations made with the Wise Space Telescope of NASA, which had excluded the presence of planets of the size of Jupiter up to 256,000 astronomical units (UA) and Saturn up to 10,000 UA.
However, a smaller world, such as Uranus or Neptune, could still escape direct detection. Phan explained that he had attempted to track down the candidate also in the Wise data, but without success. “We did not find a convincing counterpart,” he said, stressing that the object moved from the position he was in 2006. Without knowing his orbit better, it is impossible to determine where he is currently.
The incredible orbit. Another unsolved point concerns the very trajectory of the alleged planet nine. If it really exists, his orbit could bring him to distances between 280 and 1,120 ua from the sun, well beyond the region of known planets: just think that Neptune, the outermost among those confirmed, orbit at about 30 UA, or 4.5 billion kilometers from the sun. At 700 IA, The planet nine would be over 105 billion kilometers. According to Phan, a possible explanation is that the planet was formed closer to the sun, perhaps in the same area where Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were born, To then be pushed outwards due to gravitational interactions in the first days of the Solar System.
Another hypothesis, equally fascinating, is that it is a Vacant planet captured by the sunperhaps during the initial stages of his life, when he was still surrounded by other “sisters” stars and close passages between star systems were more frequent. It is not the first time that infrared data suggest the existence of a mysterious body on the edge of the Solar System. Already in 2021the astronomer Michael Rowan-Robinson of Imperial College London had identified A possible candidate In IRAS data: an object with an estimated mass between three and five terrestrial masses, Located to about 225 ua from the sun. However, that detection has never found confirmation in other data sets, such as Akari’s. Phan, on the other hand, believes that his candidate has many more likely to be real, precisely because he has been identified regardless of both satellites.
To be deepened. Even if the identified candidate promises well, The current data is not sufficient to precisely determine its orbit or confirm its planetary nature.
The team will carry out further observations with tools such as the Dark Energy Camera (Decam), capable of detecting weak objects in motion with exhibitions of about an hour. The Dark Energy Camera (Decam) is a powerful astronomical camera mounted on the Victor M. Blanco in Chile telescope, in the Cerro Tololo observatory.
Implications for understanding the sun system. The confirmation of the existence of the planet nine could explain the inclination of the orbits of some objects in the Kuiper belt and the presence of objects that orbit in a retrograde direction.
In addition, it would fill a gap in the type of planets in our system, making it more similar to other planetary systems observed in the galaxy. The research continues and if the planet nine really exists, it could soon be finally observed directly, marking a turning point in our understanding of our sun system.
