To many people, space seems empty and lifeless, but in reality it is not so. At a minimum, the Solar System is a very busy place, full of moving planets, satellites, asteroids and other space objects. Every year, scientists discover more and more new asteroids, but all eight of today's known planets were discovered as early as 1846. Over the past hundred years, we have discovered dwarf planets like Pluto at most, but nothing larger has been seen in telescopes. But astronomers do not stop searching, because they have good reason to believe that there is another, ninth planet in the solar system. Scientists call itPlanet X
The ninth planet of the solar system may be larger than Earth. Image source: mk.ru
Search for the Ninth Planet
For hundreds of years, scientists have not been able to find a single planet new to science that is located near our Sun. All that researchers manage to discover are exoplanets located in other star systems. Some of the planets far from us are so unusual that they seem to break the laws of physics and should not exist.
One would think that scientists have already found all the planets in the solar system, and there is no point in continuing the search. But no, they don’t give up, because judging by the movement of the dwarf planets, telescopes are missing some large object.
Much in space depends on gravitational attraction. Image source: habr.com
Every object has gravitational attraction, and the larger the size of this object, the greater its gravity. The Earth's gravitational pull holds everything on its surface, including you and me. The sun has an even greater gravity, and it is because of this force that the planets revolve around it.
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Is there a Ninth Planet
When scientists look at dwarf planets located far from us, they notice that they rotate in an inexplicable orbit. In particular, they move in very large oval-shaped orbits, clustered together and at an angle relative to the rest of the solar system.
Scientists tried to recreate a model of the cosmos on a computer and came to the conclusion that dwarf planets can only move like this if there is a huge planet next to them, the mass of which is six times the mass of the Earth.
The movement of dwarf planets hints that the Ninth planet exists. Image source: aif.ru
That is, scientists have good reason to believe that somewhere on the outskirts of the solar system there is another, tenth planet. But why have they still not been able to see it through a telescope? After all, we have had the legendary Hubble for a long time, and in 2021, the most powerful long-term construction project – the James Webb Space Telescope – went into space.
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Why the Ninth Planet was not found
Scientists' calculations show that Planet Nine should be about 20 times farther from the Sun than Neptune. This is an unimaginably large distance, but in order to discover new planets in the solar system, the light of the Sun must at least slightly reach the object and be reflected from it. All new objects are discovered only due to the fact that sunlight is reflected from them.
Given that the hypothetical Planet Nine is so far from the Sun, the reflection of light should be very weak. It can only be seen with a very powerful telescope, and under certain conditions. For example, ground-based observatories can see such a dimly lit object only on a moonless night, and only when looking at a strictly defined part of the sky. Today there is no telescope suitable for the power, but there is no need to despair – the development of such systems is already underway, and in the future we have a chance to discover Planet X.
Finding the Ninth Planet is difficult because almost no sunlight falls on it. Image source: lenta.ru
You might have a question: why can’t we see Planet Nine if telescopes like the James Webb can perfectly see planets outside the Solar System? This is due to the fact that exoplanets are located near their own stars and are perfectly illuminated – they are clearly visible against the background of dark space. But the Ninth Planet is far from our Sun, and is not illuminated.
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It is important to note that some scientists do not believe in the existence of Planet Nine. On the contrary, some researchers are inclined to suggest that it may be closer than it seems. All these disagreements may further complicate the search, but someday scientists will finally get to the truth.