With the degradation of Pluto, there are eight planets in the Solar System. However, a group of scientists proposes that there is a ninth, and that it is similar to Earth.
Astrophysicists Patryk Sofia Lykawka (Kindai University, Japan) and Takashi Ito (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan) recently published the theory in The Astronomical Journal. Its titled Is there an Earth-like planet in the far Kuiper Belt?
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“We predict the existence of an Earth-like planet and several trans-Neptunian objects in peculiar orbits in the outer Solar System, which may serve as as verifiable observable signatures of perturbations on the putative planet.” the scientists point out.
We leave you below four data about the Earth-like planet hidden in the Solar System.
Although it does not have an official name, they call it Planet Nine. Although the most recent to study the possibility are Lykawka and Ito, the theory had already been raised by several scientists.
The idea was born after studying the clustering behavior of objects beyond Neptune (transneptunians, TNO) found in the confines of the Solar System. This could indicate the presence of a hidden world.
“We determined that an Earth-like planet located in a distant and inclined orbit can explain three fundamental properties of the distant Kuiper Belt: a prominent population of TNOs with orbits beyond the gravitational influence of Neptune, a significant population of high-inclination objects, and the existence of some extreme objects with peculiar orbits.
According to the researchers, It would be an icy and dark planet, being far from the Sun, and with three times the mass of the Earth. Its location is indicated in the Kuiper Belt, 30 astronomical units from the Sun, made up of icy rocks and dwarf planets.
No. What has been proposed by scientists, up to now, is a theory, and it seems difficult to verify due to the distance of the Kuiper Belt. But the investigations continue. “Even without confirmation by observations”, Lykawka and Ito point out, “under certain conditions the gravitational perturbations of a KBP (hypothetical Kuiper planet) can be detectable by tracking signals in data obtained by spacecraft.