Earlier this year, the media reported that American scientists K. Batygin and M. Brown from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena discovered a new planet within the solar system. It is outside Pluto and is similar in size to Pluto.
This planet revolves around the Sun in an elongated orbit with a frequency of 15 thousand years. In its chemical composition, it is very similar to Uranus and Neptune. According to scientists, this object was knocked out of the protoplanetary disk near the Sun about 4.5 billion years ago.
The closest distance between this planet and the Sun is about 200 astronomical units. Scientists estimate the maximum distance at 600-1200 astronomical units. Thus, it can be assumed that the planet's orbit goes beyond the Kuiper belt, where Pluto is located.
It takes five years to confirm the existence of a new celestial body, and in case of a positive result, the discovered object can become the ninth planet of the solar system. It must be said that earlier attempts were also made to search for Planet X, which led to the discovery of such planets as Neptune (1864) and Pluto (1930).
Astronomers are currently searching. The thing is that the exact coordinates of the new planet were not established, scientists only indicated that part of the sky in which it can be located.
After another trans-Neptunian object, Sedna, was discovered in 2003, scientists came to the conclusion that there is another object on the outskirts of the solar system that affects the orbits of the Kuiper belt planets. Sedna, which is 76 astronomical units from the Sun, must be protected from the influence of existing planets. But when other trans-Neptunian objects were discovered (2012 GB17, 2012 VP113), it became obvious that something was affecting their trajectories.
In the course of astrophysical studies, Batygin and Brown announced the similarity of the orbits of all known objects located beyond the orbit of Neptune at a distance of more than 230 astronomical units from the Sun. At the same time, scientists estimated the probability of a random coincidence of orbits at no more than 0.007 percent. Moreover, the orbits of those objects that are located at a greater distance from the Sun than other trans-Neptunian bodies have such similar characteristics that, according to astrophysicists, this can only be explained by the presence of one more, ninth, planet of the solar system.
The new planet, scientists are sure, must be far enough from the star and massive to influence the orbits of all trans-Neptunian objects and Sedna in that part of space where the gravitational field of known planets does not extend. Scientists have created a mathematical model that once again proved the existence of small objects whose orbits are perpendicular to the plane of the rest of the solar system. Astrophysicists have suggested that these objects may be the asteroids Centaurs, located between the orbits of Neptune and Jupiter. It should be noted that earlier astronomers could not guess the trajectory of their movement.
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Brown and Batygin in their work considered several basic parameters of transneptunian bodies. The first of these is the periapsis argument, that is, the angle that connects the orbital point closest to the Sun (perihelion) and the star itself and the direction from the Sun to the point where the body crosses the celestial equator. The second argument is the angle between the vernal equinox, where the star crosses the celestial equator, and the direction to the ascending node. The third argument is the angle between the ecliptic (inclination) and the plane of the orbit. These parameters have been transformed to show where the perihelion of the orbit is and where the pole of the orbit will be projected.
The orbital poles of all six tranneptunian objects and perihelion points, as shown by the model, are grouped in such a way that the probability of the new planet impacting them is more than 99 percent. At the same time, another thirteen bodies that are at a distance of 100-300 astronomical units from the Sun also have similar characteristics, but the probability of coincidence in this case does not exceed five percent. The data obtained indicate the mass of the new planet and the configuration of its orbit. To determine these characteristics, scientists had to simulate the evolutionary process of the early solar system. The model included 40 embryos of celestial objects (planetesimals), which are formed from the dust of the protoplanetary disk.
In the created model, these objects were removed at the maximum distance from the Sun by 150-550 astronomical units, and their perihelion was at a distance of 30-50 astronomical units. Scientists for consideration took a time interval equal to 4 billion years. In the course of their research, they observed how these celestial objects would behave under the influence of the gravitational fields of known planets and Planet X.
In the model, scientists tried to select different parameters of the new planet's orbit, placing it at different distances from the Sun. Three variants of the object's mass were considered: 0.1, 1 and 10 Earth masses. Ultimately, scientists received over 190 different models.
Research has shown a lot of interesting things related to the movement of planetisimels in orbits. They move in unstable chaotic orbits and can collide with each other or fly out of the protoplanetary disk. After a while, the trajectories of these celestial objects stabilize. Astronomers selected the parameters of the orbits, the perihelion of which was at a distance of about 80 astronomical units, since such celestial bodies are available for observation in reality. Scientists decided not to check individual objects, but immediately checked entire ranges of orbital values.
After that, 13 objects were randomly selected that were removed from the Sun at the maximum distance. This random selection has been carried out several times. Very few simulations have been found to give a zero probability. And only in the case when the mass of Planet X was equal to one or ten times the mass of the Earth, the set of simulations corresponded to the observed processes.
Scientists have suggested that the mysterious planet, if it has the same mass as the Earth, should be 200 astronomical units away from the Sun, and the perihelion should reach 60 astronomical units. Simply put, the new planet must move along a highly elongated trajectory. However, this option was rejected by scientists, since the Kuiper belt was not included in it.
If we assume that the new planet is ten times larger and more massive than the Earth, then you can get several quite acceptable options. At the same time, scientists did not consider options in which the mass of the new planet exceeds the mass of the Earth by more than 10 times, which is why additional research is needed.
A 3D simulation was used to determine other orbital parameters, including orbital tilt and perihelion argument. As a result, it was possible to establish that the inclination of the orbit of a new celestial object can range from 20 to 40 degrees.
According to astronomers, like many giant exoplanets, the new planet is a gas giant. Previously, scientists were able to establish that it is possible to calculate the radius of such celestial objects by their mass due to the existence of a statistical relationship between these characteristics, equal to about 0.34. Thus, you can calculate the approximate radius of the ninth planet in the solar system - from two to nine radii of the Earth. Most likely, this planet is an ice giant, like Uranus or Neptune.
It should also be noted that scientists have tried to predict which astronomical services might discover a new planet. The tools capable of doing this are ground-based telescopes of the CRTS program, as well as the rapid response and panoramic telescopes Survey and Pan-STARRS. One of the most powerful is the Japanese telescope Subaru Telescope, which has been observing the part of the sky in which most of the ninth planet's orbit is supposedly located since 2015. It is quite possible that after some time, scientists will be able to please with new information about Planet X.