The discovery of many dwarf planets has given us reason to believe that something else may be hiding on the outskirts of the Solar System
Our Solar System is a pretty busy place. There are millions of moving objects: everything from planets, to moons, to comets, and asteroids. And every year we discover more and more objects (usually small asteroids or comets). Astronomers had found all eight major planets by 1846. But that doesn’t stop us from looking for more. Over the last 100 years we have found smaller distant bodies that we call dwarf planets, which is what we classify them with today. The discovery of some of these dwarf planets has given us reason to believe that another planet may be hiding on the outskirts of the Solar System.
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Is there a ninth planet in the solar system?
There’s a good reason why astronomers spend hundreds of hours trying to spot a ninth planet. And that’s because the Solar System as we know it wouldn’t make sense without it. Every object in our Solar System orbits the Sun. Some move quickly, some slowly, but all move respectfully. Everything that has mass has gravity. The heavier something is, the greater its gravity.
How a planet’s gravity works
A planet’s gravity is so great that it affects how things move around it. This is what we call “gravitational attraction”. Earth’s gravitational pull is what keeps everything grounded. Additionally, our Sun has the greatest gravitational pull of any object in the Solar System, and this is basically why planets orbit it. It is through our understanding of gravitational pull that we have gained insight into a possible Planet Nine.
Unexpected behaviors
When we observe very distant objects we find that their orbits are a little unexpected. They move in very large elliptical (oval-shaped) orbits, are clustered together, and exist relative to the rest of the Solar System. But then the question is: where is this planet? Based on computer models, scientists think Planet Nine is at least 20 times farther from the Sun than Neptune. They’re trying to detect it by tracking sunlight that it can reflect, just like the Moon at night. However, because Planet Nine is located so far from the Sun, it is expected to be very faint and difficult to spot even for the best telescopes on Earth. We will keep you updated on news regarding this mysterious celestial body. Continue to follow us!
Cover image credit Caltech / R. Hurt (IPAC)
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