American scientists have discovered 17 orbiting objects that may be the ninth planet in the solar system. The research results are published in The Planetary Science Journal.
Thus, the location and orbits of trans-Neptunian objects in the Kuiper belt may indicate the presence of an unknown planet behind them with a mass 5-10 times greater than the Earth. According to scientists, it can be at a distance of 250 astronomical units or more from the Sun.
At the same time, it is extremely difficult to see the reflected light from a dark object, which is located about 12-23 times farther from the Sun than Pluto, and therefore scientists are developing new methods to detect traces of the Ninth Planet.
So, astronomers from Yale University have developed a program that uses the method of shift and superimposition, originally developed for the discovery of new satellites of the planets of the solar system.
Researchers blindly searched two sectors in the outer solar system and found 17 moving objects that were candidates for Planet Nine.
“If any of these candidate objects turns out to be real, it will help us better understand the dynamics of the outer solar system and the likely properties of Planet Nine. This is interesting new information, ”said astronomer Malena Rice.
On October 22, it was reported that astronomers used the ALMA microwave telescope for the first observations of how the volcanoes of Io, a moon of Jupiter, eject huge masses of gas and ash into the rarefied atmosphere.