The Only Place Planet X Could Be Hiding

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1:04Does it really exist? If discovered, Planet 9 would rank as the fifth largest planet in our solar system, with a mass 10 times that of Earth. It's also theorized to be gaseous, like Uranus. The initial study on Planet 9, dating back to 2016, suggests that this colossal new planet orbits the Sun 29 times farther out than Neptune, which sits at about 2.8 billion miles. As a result, the Planet 9 would take between 10,000 and 20,000 years to complete a single orbit around the Sun. If confirmed, this yet to be understood world would dominate a region larger than any other known planet in our cosmic neighborhood. These are all intriguing hypotheses, but without a single piece of evidence or observation to back them up. Before dismissing this as a wild guess, it is important to note that these researchers relied on complex mathematical modeling and computer simulations to speculate about the

2:06planet's characteristics, because that's what they do. The hypothetical presence of this planet would explain various mysterious features located beyond Neptune. We are specifically talking about the Kuiper Belt. A huge donut-shaped region, filled with icy debris, left over from the formation of the solar system, including comets and dwarf planets, like Pluto. What happens is that the six farthest objects in the Kuiper Belt exhibit elliptical orbits that are all oriented in a similar direction within physical space, and tilted approximately 30 degrees downward relative to the orbital plane of our eight known planets. What strange here is that, despite their distinct orbital velocities around the solar system, they maintain this alignment. The likelihood of such alignment occurring randomly is extremely low, around 0.007%. So, here comes planet 9, a hypothetical massive celestial body that offers a plausible explanation

3:08for this strange phenomenon, potentially exerting gravitational influence to shape these orbits. The initial theory didn't hold up for long, facing accusations of observational bias and calculation errors. Then, in 2017, another study popped up, sparking back the idea that maybe planet 9 is out there after all. This time, Spanish astronomers tried a novel approach, focusing on observing extreme trans-Neptunian objects. These celestial bodies orbit the sun in highly stretched elliptical paths, with average distances exceeding 13 billion miles. The research suggests that the distances between these objects' nodes and the sun might provide clues to planet 9's location. You see, these nodes are the points where a celestial body's orbit intersects the solar system's plane. When these objects reach these points, they're more likely to interact with other solar system bodies, potentially causing significant changes in their orbits or even collisions.

4:13So, if the trajectory of these extreme trans-Neptunian objects remains stable, everything's fine. But, if it's not, well, that's a sign that something else, something big, is messing with their path. And that's exactly what the research found. There is something unseen out there, throwing these objects off course, and that something could be a planet, chilling at a distance between 300 to 400 times farther from the sun than Earth. To this day, the study of the extreme trans-Neptunian objects is the strongest evidence we've got for planet 9's existence. And if you're still not convinced by this theory, know that strange motions like these have led to planetary discoveries before. Neptune, for instance, was spotted because Uranus' motion didn't quite agree with the predictions of Newtonian gravity. But the deflection of its orbit could be explained if it was caused by a pull of an undiscovered planet. And just like that, we discovered Neptune.

5:17Now, the year is 2021, and there's all this buzz about planet 9 again. After correcting some old guesses, studies are now leaning towards the idea that this mystery world follows an epic loop around the sun every 7,000 years. That is massive news, because it means this planet might be closer than we ever thought, making it easier for our telescopes to spot it. The paper also suggests there is a whopping 99% chance that the funky orbits of these distant objects are all because of this unseen planet, not just some cosmic coincidence. Now the odds of this whole situation being a fluke are down to a 1 and 250 chance, which is much better than the 1 and 10,000 chance back in 2016. All these optimistic numbers have brought us to where we are today, keeping our hopes and working on better equipment to continue the mission of spotting planet 9. As mentioned earlier, researchers in Hawaii created some kind of treasure map utilizing

6:21the panoramic survey tell us. The world moves fast. You work day, even faster, pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 co-pilot is your AI assistant for work, built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create, and summarize. So you can cut through clutter and clear path to your best work. One more at Microsoft.com slash N365 co-pilot. Go and rapid response system to eliminate 78% of its locations. This is great news, considering how challenging it is to find a planet-sized needle in a cosmic haystack. But, unfortunately, planet 9's presence remains a ghost in the dark outer reaches of our solar system. Enthusiasts are still convinced of its existence and believe it is only a matter of time before we celebrate the discovery of Earth's new cosmic cousin.

7:22They're putting their hopes on the Varacy Ruben Observatory, which is currently under construction in Chile, and is scheduled to begin science operations in late 2025. Over the course of 10 years, this observatory will scan the entire southern hemisphere sky every few nights with a 27-foot, fast-moving telescope equipped with the largest digital camera in the world. The idea is to catalog everything in the solar system, reaching out to and beyond Neptune, and tracking the movements of millions of celestial objects, including space junk, asteroids, comets, and stars. If planet 9 is indeed out there, this next-generation telescope could be the one to find it. The existence of this mysterious planet is far from being universally accepted in the scientific community. That is simply because planet 9 isn't the only explanation for the strange phenomenon occurring beyond Neptune. One theory suggests that a group of distant objects, such as dwarf planets, comets and

8:26moons, might be collectively influencing the orbits of the extreme transneptonian objects. Others believe that a black hole is behind all this. These compressed masses are some of the densest objects in the universe, potentially capable of affecting the orbits of other masses, like how this supposed ghost planet 9 is believed to be doing. Another bold perspective suggests that our current understanding of the laws of gravity is flawed, actually incomplete. This theory, known as modified Newtonian dynamics, proposes that these distant icy objects exhibit strange behavior, not due to influence from another planet, but rather because the immense gravitational field of the Milky Way is influencing them. However, even supporters of this theory acknowledge that it is too early to draw firm conclusions, and much more extensive research is still required. While we continue our relentless hunt for planet 9, some astronomers have taken it a

9:29step further, suggesting the existence of a hypothetical planet 10. This world has a mass in size, like that of Mars or Earth, and is located on the edges of the Kuiper Belt. But the thing is, if this alleged planet 10 is indeed as small as scientists believe, it might not have enough gravity to clear its orbit of debris, and that is pretty similar to what happens with Pluto, being one of the reasons why it got into trouble back in 2006. So yeah, it's better not to get too excited. This supposed planet 10 might end up classified as another dwarf planet.