A research team from the United States has identified a mysterious orbit that could help locate the elusive Planet Nine of the Solar System.
“Planet Nine” is a hypothesis that has been around for quite some time and is gradually revealing intriguing clues. Numerous small celestial objects in the distant regions near the edge of the solar system are being influenced by something powerful, colossal, and invisible, causing them to shift and oscillate. Many scientists believe that this “ghost” is indeed Planet Nine.
Orbital map of Planet Nine (colored in yellow) and several objects in the distant region of the solar system – (Photo: Caltech).
According to Daily Mail, in this new study, astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin, along with their colleagues at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), have determined the orbit of this “ghost.”
The Universe Today reported that they created a map of the orbits of planets and Kuiper Belt objects near Neptune, including Planet Nine. The orbit of this mysterious object was identified based on its gravitational effects on known objects in the Kuiper Belt.
The results indicate that it must have a very large, elliptical orbit. Currently, it is likely at an average distance and is gradually moving towards its perihelion (the point closest to the Sun in its orbit). The average current distance is about 500 astronomical units (AU). One AU is the distance from the Sun to Earth.
This mapping also helps researchers estimate some properties of Planet Nine, such as its mass being about 6.2 times that of Earth. When it reaches its perihelion, it will still be about 300 AU away from the Sun. Its orbit also has an inclination of about 16 degrees relative to the plane of the Solar System. In comparison, Earth’s inclination is 0 degrees, while Pluto’s inclination is 17 degrees.
