The Only Place Planet X Could Be Hiding

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So, we might be getting closer to finding a massive icy planet beyond Neptune's orbit.

Yeah, sorry Pluto, still not you.

Recently, some universe mapping using data from a telescope in Hawaii eliminated about 78%

of the possible locations for this mysterious Waldo from space.

Some people call it Planet 9, while others prefer Planet X.

Either way, it's been causing controversy since its existence was first proposed.

And that is mainly because no study so far can answer the big question.

Does 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

planet'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

for 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.

So, 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.

Now, 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

the panoramic survey tell us.

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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.

They'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

moons, 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

step 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.