It is possible that the ninth “Earth-like” planet is hiding in our solar system

Strange but true

by Hannah Sparks

September 4, 2023 | 6:24 p.m

There may be another world lurking between the orbital lines of our solar system.

Astronomers in Japan have published their theory of an “Earth-like planet” dubbed “Planet Nine” hiding in plain sight a few billion miles beyond Neptune.

Posted last month in the Astronomical JournalResearchers Patrick Sophia Likoka and Takashi Ito, of Japan’s Kindai University and the country’s National Astronomical Observatory, respectively, dug deep into the Kuiper Belt for signs of planetary bodies.

The Kuiper Belt is a massive ring made up of interstellar objects such as dwarf planets and asteroids, clumps of carbon, and volatile icy elements such as methane and ammonia. The celestial junkyard lies just beyond Neptune’s orbit and orbits the sun like everything else in our solar system.

The findings by Likaoka and Ito point to another important Kuiper Belt object that has “exotic” properties, such as the effect of gravity on other objects, indicating its planetary status.

“We expect the existence of an Earth-like planet. It is plausible that there is a primitive planetary body that could live in the distant Kuiper belt as a Kuiper belt planet, since many of these bodies were present in the early solar system,” they wrote in their report. to Earth.com.

While some astronomers remain unconvinced that such a planet exists, this new work is not the first to hypothesize the existence of a ninth planet in our cosmic community.

Previous research has led to similar theories about an extra planet in the far reaches of our solar system, with Likaoka and Ito pointing to an object much larger than previously proposed, and at a much shorter distance than where we sit.

If their calculations serve them correctly, Planet Nine will have about 1.5 to 3 times the mass of Earth, 500 times the distance from our home to the sun.

Caltech researchers in 2014 were said to be the first to come up with a stable theory about Planet Nine after observing disturbances in space objects just beyond Neptune, also known as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs).

Separate research in 2020 hypothesized that Planet Nine may have been positioned more centrally within our system before the formation of Jupiter pushed it further out.

And just this year, another study theorized that the planet might be, too It is surrounded by 20 “hot” moons.with a moderate temperature of -280 degrees Fahrenheit.

Some may recall that Pluto was considered the ninth planet in our solar system until it was demoted to a dwarf planet in 2006, when scientists began to realize how many planets out there were much like it – along with the likes of other TNOs.

Three criteria for it to be considered a completed planet must be applied accordingly to Space.comA solar orbit, huge and spherical, and larger than all the bodies surrounding it.