For an extended period, certain astronomers have opined that peculiar actions occurring at the periphery of our solar system could be mostly attributed to an additional, unexplored planet. This contributes to the explanation of the orbits of objects located at the furthest points of our solar system, over 250 times farther from the Sun than our own.
Astronomer Konstantin Bogytin, who contributed to the theory’s popularization, now claims that he and his colleagues have discovered additional evidence supporting the planet’s existence. According to him, the latest research offers “the strongest statistical evidence yet that Planet 9 is really out there.”
Researchers examined a group of objects known as trans-Neptunian objects, or TNOs for short, in the new study. TNOs are objects that are located beyond Neptune at the frontier of the solar system.
The new study examined objects whose interactions with Neptune’s orbit cause their motion to become unstable. Because of their volatility, astronomers examining a potential Planet Nine have generally refrained from utilizing them in their analyses.
Instead, they turned to face those objects and attempted to decipher their movements. Furthermore, the best answer, according to Dr. Bogytin, is that they are the product of an undiscovered planet.
The scientists ran a number of simulations to see how various factors, such as the massive planets like Neptune nearby, the Milky Way’s “Galactic tide,” and incoming stars, affected the trajectories of those objects.
But according to Dr. Bogytin, the model that featured Planet Nine offered the most compelling explanation. They acknowledged that there were other theories explaining the behavior of those objects, such as the idea that other planets impacted their orbit in the past but were later ejected, but they maintain that the theory of Planet Nine is still the most plausible.
They remark that when the Vera C Rubin Observatory is turned on, a better understanding of the existence or non-existence of Planet Nine will occur. When it is operational, that structure, which is presently under construction in Chile, will be able to scan the sky and decipher the behavior of those far-off objects.
The team states in its report that “This upcoming phase of exploration promises to provide critical insights into the mysteries of our solar system’s outer reaches,”