Unusual Object Spotted – A Strong Candidate for Controversial Planet Nine?
Summary:
A newly identified object, detected in two infrared sky surveys, could potentially be the most substantial evidence for the elusive Planet Nine. The object’s unusual orbit and surprising mass have sparked excitement, but astronomers need follow-up observations with powerful telescopes to track its motion and confirm its identity.
Key points:
1. The Hunt for Planet Nine:
Astronomers have long speculated about an unseen planet lurking in the solar system’s outer edge, known as Planet Nine. The hypothetical world could explain the peculiar clustering of distant objects in the Kuiper Belt, a region beyond Neptune filled with icy bodies. In 2016, astronomers Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin proposed Planet Nine as a massive body with an elongated orbit hundreds of astronomical units (AU) away from the sun.
2. Discovery from Archival Data:
Terry Long Phan of National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and colleagues analyzed archival data from two far-infrared all-sky surveys – NASA’s Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and Japan’s AKARI satellite – conducted 23 years apart. They searched for objects that appeared in the 1983 IRAS data but had shifted position in AKARI’s later observations. A single promising candidate was detected at a distance consistent with the expected location of Planet Nine.
3. Following Up on the Candidate:
The research team employed a rigorous selection process to rule out nearby, fast-moving objects. The candidate, a faint dot, appeared in one position in IRAS’s 1983 images but had shifted approximately 47.4 arcminutes in AKARI’s 2006 data, consistent with the expected orbital motion of Planet Nine over 23 years. If confirmed, the candidate’s orbit would be highly unusual, swinging from about 280 AU to 1,120 AU from the Sun. However, due to the uncertainty of the candidate’s current position, follow-up observations are necessary for confirmation.
Keywords:
Planet Nine, Kuiper Belt, Infrared Data, IRAS, AKARI satellite, Distant Objects, Solar System, Neptune, Terry Long Phan, Michael Brown, Konstantin Batygin, Orbital Motion, Archival Data, Astronomers, Follow-up Observations
Full Article:
Researchers may have found the most compelling evidence for Planet Nine yet, an elusive hypothetical world orbiting hundreds of astronomical units (AU) beyond Earth in the solar system’s outer edge. A team led by astronomer Terry Long Phan of National Tsing Hua University re-analyzed archival data from two far-infrared all-sky surveys conducted 23 years apart and discovered a promising candidate for the elusive planet. The findings were published in a study, with the abstract available at <https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.17288>.
The concept of an unseen planet in the solar system’s outer reaches has captivated astronomers for decades. Planet Nine, proposed in 2016 by Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin, is not connected to the earlier idea of “Planet X,” which was linked to theories about periodic mass extinctions. Instead, Planet Nine is a massive body, potentially following an exceptionally elongated orbit far beyond Neptune. Its extreme distance makes direct detection challenging, but an international team led by Phan has taken a novel approach to the search.
Phan’s team analyzed archival data from NASA’s Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and Japan’s AKARI satellite. They screened for objects that appeared in IRAS’s 1983 data but shifted position in AKARI’s later observations, which would be expected at Planet Nine’s estimated distance because of its slow annual orbital motion and the parallax effects from Earth’s orbit around the sun.
The careful scrutiny of AKARI data, including annual comparisons and hourly checks for fast-moving objects, led the researchers to a single promising candidate. The faint dot appeared in the same position in IRAS images taken on the same calendar date every year between 1983 and 1985. However, by 2006, it had shifted approximately 47.4 arcminutes. According to Phan, this shift is consistent with the expected orbital motion of Planet Nine over 23 years.
The findings, however, come with some caveats. The data alone are not sufficient to determine the object’s precise orbit. Moreover, despite careful analysis, the current position of the candidate remains uncertain. Follow-up observations with powerful optical telescopes are needed to detect the object and pinpoint its location.
Nevertheless, the team estimates that, based on the brightness of the object in IRAS and AKARI data, it could be more massive than Neptune. This finding is surprising, as the researchers initially searched for a super-Earth-sized body. Previous surveys like NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have ruled out Jupiter-sized planets out to 256,000 AU and Saturn-sized planets out to 10,000 AU, but a Neptune-sized planet could still have evaded detection.
Should follow-up observations confirm the existence and orbit of the Planet Nine candidate, astronomers would need to explore how such a distant path could have originated.
“One possibility is that Planet Nine formed closer to the Sun, perhaps near the region where Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune formed, and was later gravitationally scattered outward by one or more of these giant planets during the early days of the solar system,” Phan said. Alternatively, it could be a rogue planet captured by the Sun early in the solar system’s history.
This discovery brings excitement but remains tentative. Astronomers cannot fully determine the candidate’s orbit, so follow-up observations are necessary for confirmation. The upcoming launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, recent commissioning of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, and instruments like the Dark Energy Camera promise to enhance the search for Planet Nine. Time will tell if the promising candidate is the long-sought evidence for the enigmatic Planet Nine.
SOURCE: https%3A%2F%2Fwww.techspot.com%2Fnews%2F107802-astronomers-spot-possible-planet-nine-data-spanning-23.html
