The ninth planet of the solar system: evidence from scientists. Scientists announce the discovery of the ninth planet Planets of the solar system of the year
Astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena on the discovery of a candidate for the ninth planet of the solar system outside the orbit of Pluto. The find may become one of the most sensational in the current decade, comparable to the discovery of a new continent on Earth. The results of the search for Planet X, the authors published in The Astronomical Journal. Science News and Nature News briefly talk about them.
What was discovered
Planet X is an object the size of Neptune and ten times the mass of the Earth. The celestial body revolves around the Sun in a highly elongated and inclined orbit with a period of 15 thousand years. The closest distance between the Sun and Planet X is 200 astronomical units (that's seven times the distance between Neptune and the star), and the maximum is estimated at 600-1200 astronomical units. This brings the object's orbit out of the Kuiper Belt, where Pluto is located, towards the Oort cloud.
Why the ninth planet
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) definition of a planet applies only to celestial bodies in the solar system. According to it, a rounded massive body is considered a planet, having cleared the vicinity of its orbit from a large number of smaller bodies. The IAU officially recognizes the existence of five dwarf planets. One of them (Ceres) is located in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, others (Pluto, Eris, Makemake and Haumea) are beyond the orbit of Neptune. The largest of them is Pluto.
In total, there are eight planets in the solar system, according to the IAU. The largest and most massive of them is Jupiter. Pluto, by decision of the IAU in 2006, ceased to be considered a planet, since it does not meet one of the criteria that determines it (the dominance of its orbit in space). So far, astronomers have discovered more than 40 dwarf planet candidates. Scientists estimate that there may be more than two thousand dwarf planets in the solar system, of which 200 are located within the Kuiper belt (at a distance of 30 to 55 astronomical units from the Sun). The rest are outside of it.
The definition of a planet as a dwarf one is controversial among scientists. In particular, the dimensions of the celestial body can play a decisive role in this case. Planet X, being the fifth in mass and size of the celestial body of the solar system known to science, certainly cannot be considered a dwarf. The unusual orbit and origin of Planet X may lead to a revision of the IAU definition of a dwarf planet.
Image: NASA / JPL-CALTECH
How they opened
The existence of Planet X was suspected in 2014. Then Chadwick Trujillo from the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and Scott Sheppard from the Carnegie Institution in Washington published an article in Nature, where they reported the discovery at a distance of 80 astronomical units (Pluto is 48 astronomical units from the Sun) from the Sun of the trans-Neptunian object 2012 VP113. In their work, astronomers also suggested that at a distance of 250 astronomical units from the star there is a planet larger than the Earth.
Observer astronomer Brown and computer astronomy expert Batygin decided to refute Trujillo and Sheppard's data. But it turned out differently. Scientists have discovered a new planet by analyzing data on its gravitational effects on other celestial bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. Among them, in particular, is the candidate for the dwarf planet Sedna discovered in 2003 by Brown, Trujillo and David Rabinowitz. Computer modeling and theoretical calculations carried out by Brown and Batygin explain the results of observations by the existence of Planet X. Astronomers estimate the probability of error in their conclusions at 0.007 percent.
How Planet X Came to Be
Astronomers cannot yet give an exact answer to the question of the origin of Planet X. They tend to the following hypothesis. At the dawn of the existence of the solar system, there were five large protoplanets, four of which formed modern Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. However, about three million years after their birth, the gravity of the first two celestial bodies threw Protoplanet X out of the orbit of Neptune.
Structure and composition of Planet X
The origin of Planet X suggests that it was originally similar to the ice giants Uranus and Neptune. The latter is 17 times heavier than the Earth, and its diameter is four times greater than that of the Blue Planet. Uranus and Neptune are classified as ice giants. Their atmosphere consists of gases (hydrogen, helium and hydrocarbons) and ice particles (water, ammonia and methane). Under the atmosphere of the giants is a mantle of water, ammonia and methane ice, under which lies a solid core of metals, silicates and ice. Planet X may have a similar core and mantle without a dense atmosphere.
Criticism
The celestial mechanic Alessandro Morbidelli from Nice acted as a referent for the work of scientists in The Astronomical Journal. He was optimistic about the chances of the discovery of Planet X by astronomers Brown and Batygin. Last but not least - thanks to the authority of scientists. Planetologist Hal Levison from Colorado was skeptical about the work of colleagues, citing the haste of Brown and Batygin's conclusions and the need for further verification. As the discoverers of Planet X themselves note, astronomers will believe in their discovery only when they can observe the planet through a telescope.
What's next
To detect Planet X, astronomers have booked time at Japan's Subaru Observatory in Hawaii. Trujillo and Sheppard will compete in the search for the planet with scientists. Confirmation of the existence of a celestial body can take up to five years. If discovered, the object could become the ninth planet in the solar system. Earlier searches for Planet X in the solar system led scientists to discover Neptune (in 1864) and Pluto (in 1930). There is little doubt that the existence of a ninth planet will be confirmed.
About 30 human-made spacecraft in our solar system are currently collecting information about our planet and its environs. Every year evidence is collected that supports some theories while pushing others to the sidelines. Here are some of the most interesting facts that we managed to learn about our solar system in 2016.
Jupiter and Saturn throw comets at us
In 1994, the entire world watched as comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter and "left an Earth-sized trail that lasted for a year." Then the astronomers happily talked that Jupiter protects us from comets and asteroids.
Thanks to its massive gravitational field, Jupiter was thought to pull in most of these threats before they reach Earth. But a recent study showed that the exact opposite may be true, and this whole "Jupiter shield" idea is not true.
Simulations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena have shown that Jupiter and Saturn are most likely tossing space debris into the inner solar system and into orbits that put them in the path of Earth. It turns out that the giant planets are bombarding us with comets and asteroids.
The good news is that the comets that bombarded the Earth during its developmental stages may have "carried in volatiles from the outer solar system necessary for the formation of life."
Pluto has liquid water
On the outskirts of the known solar system, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft reveals strange things about the distant dwarf planet Pluto. First of all, it is interesting that Pluto has a liquid ocean.
The presence of fracture lines and analysis of a large crater called Sputnik Planum led the researchers to a model that shows Pluto has a 100-kilometer-thick liquid ocean with a 30% salt content beneath a 300-kilometer-thick shell of ice. It is about as salty as the Dead Sea.
If Pluto's ocean were in the process of freezing, then the planet would have to contract. But it looks like it's expanding. Scientists suspect that there is enough radioactivity left in the core to provide at least some heat. The thick layers of exotic surface ice act as an insulator, and probably the presence of ammonia acts as an antifreeze.
The cores of Neptune and Uranus are wrapped in plastic
How do you know what lies beneath the clouds of distant gas giants, where the atmospheric pressure is nine million times higher than on Earth? Maths! Scientists used the USPEX algorithm to provide a possible picture of what is happening under the clouds of these poorly understood planets.
Knowing that Neptune and Uranus are made up mostly of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen, scientists have plugged in calculations to determine the strange chemical processes that might be taking place there. The result is exotic polymers, organic plastics, crystalline carbon dioxide, and orthocarbon acid (aka "Hitler's acid" because its atomic structure resembles a swastika) wrapped around a solid inner core.
While searching for extraterrestrial life on Titan and Europa, scientists hope that water may have reacted with rocks in organic processes. But if the inner core is wrapped in exotic crystals and plastics, some things will have to be reconsidered.
Mercury has a huge Grand Canyon
If there was volcanic activity on Venus and Mars even a few million years ago, it looks like baby Mercury calmed down 3-4 billion years ago. The planet cooled down, began to shrink and crack.
In the process, a massive crack appeared, which scientists call the "big valley." According to University of Maryland scientists:
“The valley is 400 kilometers wide and 965 kilometers long, with steep slopes that penetrate 3 kilometers below the surrounding terrain. For comparison, if the "big valley" of Mercury existed on Earth, it would be twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and stretch from Washington DC to New York and Detroit far to the west."
On a tiny planet with a circumference of only 4,800 kilometers, such a large valley looks more like a terrible scar on the face.
Venus was once habitable
Venus is the only planet that spins backwards. At 460 degrees Celsius, its surface is hot enough to melt lead, and the planet itself is shrouded in clouds of sulfuric acid. But one day, Venus may have been able to support life.
More than four billion years ago, Venus had oceans. In fact, it is believed that there has been water on the planet for over two billion years. Today, Venus is very dry and has no water vapor at all. The Sun's solar wind blew it all away.
The atmosphere of Venus gives off a large electric field five times stronger than the earth's. This field is also strong enough to overcome the gravity of Venus and push hydrogen and oxygen into the upper atmosphere, where the solar winds blow them away.
Scientists don't know why Venus's electric field is so strong, but it could be because Venus is closer to the Sun.
The earth is fueled by the moon
The Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that protects us from charged particles and harmful radiation. If not for it, we would be exposed to cosmic rays 1000 times stronger than those that are now. Our computers and electronics would fry instantly. Therefore, it is great that a giant ball of molten iron is spinning in the center of our planet. Until recently, scientists weren't sure why it kept spinning. Eventually, it should cool down and slow down.
But over the past 4.3 billion years, it has cooled by only 300 degrees Celsius. Thus, we lost quite a bit of heat, which did not play a special role for the magnetic field. Scientists now believe that the Moon's orbit is supporting Earth's hot core as it rotates, injecting about 1,000 billion watts of energy into the core. The moon may be more important to us than we thought.
The rings of Saturn are new
Since the 1600s, there has been debate about how many Saturn's rings exist and where they came from. In theory, Saturn once had more moons and some of them collided with each other. As a result, a cloud of debris appeared, which decomposed into rings and 62 satellites.
By watching Saturn squeezing geysers out of Enceladus, scientists were able to estimate the relative strength of the gas giant's tug. Since all the satellites were thrown into longer orbits, this allowed scientists to roughly estimate when the cabal among the moons occurred.
The numbers showed that Saturn's rings had nothing to do with the formation of the planet four billion years ago. In fact, with the exception of the more distant moons of Titan and Iapetus, Saturn's large moons appear to have formed during the Cretaceous period, the age of the dinosaurs.
There are 15,000 very large asteroids in our vicinity.
In 2005, NASA was tasked with finding 90% of large objects in near-Earth space by 2020. So far, the agency has found 90% of objects that are 915 meters or larger, but only 25% are 140 meters or larger.
In 2016, with 30 new discoveries per week, NASA discovered its 15,000 objects. For reference: in 1998, the agency found only 30 new objects per year. NASA catalogs all the comets and asteroids around to make sure we know when something is about to hit us. However, meteors sometimes erupt without warning, like the one that exploded over Chelyabinsk in 2013.
We deliberately crashed the device on a comet
The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft orbited comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for two years. The device collected data and even placed the lander on the surface, although not entirely successfully.
This 12-year mission has led to a number of important discoveries. For example, Rosetta discovered the amino acid glycine, the basic building block of life. Although it has long been assumed that amino acids could have formed in space at the dawn of the solar system, they were only discovered thanks to Rosetta.
Rosetta found 60 molecules, 34 of which had never been found on a comet before. The spacecraft's instruments also showed a significant difference in the composition of the comet's water and Earth's water. It turns out that it is unlikely that water on Earth appeared due to comets.
After a successful mission, the ESA crashed the craft into a comet.
Mysteries of the Sun solved
All planets and stars have magnetic fields that change over time. On Earth, these fields turn over every 200,000-300,000 years. But now they are late.
Everything happens faster in the Sun. Every 11 years or so, the polarity of the Sun's magnetic field reverses. This is accompanied by a period of increased solar activity and sunspots.
Oddly enough, Venus, Earth and Jupiter align at this time. Scientists believe that these planets can influence the Sun. As the planets align, their gravity combines to cause a tidal effect on the sun's plasma, pulling it in and disrupting the sun's magnetic field, the study found.
Caltech scientists Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin have provided evidence for the existence of a giant planet in the solar system, located even further from the Sun than Pluto.
The researchers reported that they have not yet been able to see it through a telescope. According to them, the planet was discovered when studying the movement of small celestial bodies in deep space. The mass of the celestial body is about 10 times the mass of the Earth, but scientists have yet to verify its existence.
Institute astronomers have only a rough idea of where the planet might be in the starry sky, and no doubt their suggestion will launch a campaign to find it.
"There are many telescopes on Earth theoretically capable of finding it. I really hope that now, after our announcement, people around the world will start looking for the ninth planet," said Michael Brown.
Elliptical orbit
According to scientists, the space object is about 20 times farther from the Sun than Neptune, which is 4.5 billion km away.
Unlike the almost circular orbits of other planets in the Solar System, this object is supposed to move in an elliptical orbit, and a complete revolution around the Sun takes from 10 thousand to 20 thousand years.
Scientists have studied the movement of objects consisting mainly of ice in the Kuiper Belt. Pluto is in this belt.
The researchers noticed a certain location of some bodies in the Belt, in particular such large objects as Sedna and 2012 VP113. In their opinion, this can only be explained by the presence of an unknown large space object.
"All the most distant objects move in the same direction on an inexplicable trajectory, and we realized that the only explanation for this is the existence of a large, distant planet that holds them together as they orbit the Sun," Brown said.
Planet X
The idea of the existence of the so-called Planet X, located on the periphery of the solar system, has been discussed in scientific circles for more than 100 years. She is remembered and then forgotten.
The current speculation is of particular interest because of the study's lead author.
Brown specializes in searching for distant objects, and it was his discovery of the dwarf planet Eris in the Kuiper Belt in 2005 that led to Pluto losing planetary status a year later. Then it was assumed that Eris is slightly larger than Pluto, but now it has become clear that it is slightly smaller than it.
Researchers studying distant objects in the solar system have been speculating for some time on the possibility of a planet the size of Mars or Earth due to the size and shape of the planets in the Kuiper Belt. But until you can see the planet through a telescope, the idea of its existence will be perceived with skepticism.
The study by Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin was published in the Astronomical Journal.
Voyager 2 sent data back to Earth from interstellar space ... a story that went beyond the heliosphere. Voyager 1 left the limits solar systems in 2012. Both devices were launched in 1977. Scientists have discovered the smallest planet in the solar system ... to be reclassified as a dwarf planet, so far the smallest in solar system”, - quotes the European Southern Observatory the words of lead researcher Pierre Vernazza. Astrophysics... shapes under the influence of gravity. Now five bodies are recognized as dwarf planets solar systems, several dozen more are waiting for confirmation of this status. Artyom Gubenko Roman... Scientists have discovered the most distant object in the solar system ... discovered the most distant object ever observed in solar system, is the dwarf planet 2018 VG18, named Farout (“Remote”). Message about... moving much farther and slower than any other observable object solar systems, so it will take several years to fully determine its orbit, ”quotes ... The second man-made device went into interstellar space ... the apparatus went beyond the heliosphere. The device has not yet left solar a system whose boundary is considered to be the outer boundary of the Oort cloud. "Voyager 2 ... him," NASA notes. NASA: Voyager 1 finally left the limits solar systems NASA also said they could still make contact... Scientists announce the discovery of the most distant dwarf planet ... Astronomers discovered in solar system the most distant dwarf planet. Her discovery is reported on the website ... From the Alley of Cosmonautics at VDNKh, “orbits of the planets” were stolen for 5.5 million rubles. ... a criminal case on the theft of the metal structures of the monument with planets solar systems on the Alley of Cosmonautics, RBC was told in the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs ... ”, the press service explained. About that monument with planets solar systems was damaged, it became known on October 14. Stolen parts of a metal structure...Society, 05 Sep 2017, 22:52
Flying high: the best pictures from the Voyager spacecraft 40 years ago, as part of the American NASA project, Voyager 1 was launched into space - the first device that flew beyond solar systems. Since 1998, Voyager has been the furthest artificial object from Earth - its real-time location is available on the NASA website. The best pictures taken from the station are in the RBC photo gallery Anna Kim Astronomers have discovered a new dwarf planet in the solar system ...discovered a new dwarf planet, which became the third farthest object solar systems. The planet, indexed 2014 UZ224, was described by the Minor Planet Center... with a diameter of approximately 530 km. For comparison: the diameter of the largest dwarf solar systems- Pluto - is 2600 km, and the diameter of its largest satellite Charon ... Scientists have discovered the closest potentially habitable planet to Earth ... a study according to which the star Proxima Centauri, closest to our solar system, there is a planet that could potentially be habitable According to ... the closest planet outside solar systems that will ever be found, because there is no star closer to solar system than this one,” said the presenter... Scientists discover first tailless comet ... allow scientists to answer questions related to formation and evolution solar systems writes Reuters. A comet called C/2014 S3 is different from... . Most comets are made of ice and form elsewhere solar systems. Presumably, after the birth of C / 2014 S3 was thrown into the cloud ... in solar system. Now scientists are trying to figure out how many more "Manx comets" are in space. C/2014 S3 was opened using automatic systems ... Scientists admit the existence of the ninth planet in the solar system ... their work has been published in the Astronomical Journal. Scientists have found that in solar system there may be another planet, the mass of which is ten times ... the sun's planet solar systems- Neptune. "A large area of our solar systems will remain unexplored,” said one of the participants in the study, astronomer Michael Brown. planets in solar system 8 left... NASA has published a color video from the other end of the solar system ... NASA released a color video from the other end solar systems. Recorded from the New Horizons probe over Pluto. “But ... perhaps they didn’t expect: he recorded the first frames from the edge of our solar systems", - the message says. LORRI cameras were used to record the video...”, the message says. Pluto Through Stained Glass: Video from the Edge solar systems In July 2015, NASA released the first images of Pluto's surface... Titanium propylenes: raw material for plastic found on Saturn's moon ... , this is the first time a plastic raw material has been found at any site solar systems apart from the earth. . The presence of this component in the lower part of Titan's atmosphere... fuel. On the satellite of Saturn, they are formed due to the fact that solar light contributes to the breakdown of methane (the second largest component in the atmosphere ... Scientists: Voyager has finally left the solar system ... the Voyager 1 probe, launched by NASA in 1977, finally left the limits solar systems. It is reported by The Daily Tech. . To this conclusion, the researchers ... 2013, however, this was not enough to go beyond our solar systems: the satellite entered the transition zone called "heliopause", which is the last ... -1 "- an automatic probe weighing 723 kilograms. Was launched for research solar systems and its environs on September 5, 1977. He was the first space... NASA caught the solar system by the tail: it is shaped like a clover ... there is a slowdown sunny wind. "Explorer of interstellar boundaries" IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer) is a US research satellite designed to study the territory solar systems and interstellar space. It was launched in October 2008. and a year later discovered an inexplicable high-energy radiation at the edge solar systems.Society, 20 Mar 2013, 00:00
Mankind has gone beyond the solar system for the first time ... people, for the first time went beyond solar systems. Reported by the American Geophysical Union. . Evidence of exit solar systems are the characteristics of hydrogen and helium obtained... still a zone outside solar systems. Voyager 1 is an automatic probe weighing 723 kilograms. Launched for research solar systems and its environs on September 5... MESSENGER interplanetary probe discovers ice in Mercury craters ... there are "pockets" at its poles, into which it almost never gets solar light. Scientists have suggested the presence of water at the poles of Mercury ... the orbit of Mercury. This planet is one of the most difficult objects to reach. solar systems: in order to move from near-Earth to near-Mercurian orbit, you need to extinguish a significant ... NASA managed to see how a black hole tore apart a star the size of the Sun ...torn apart. Astrophysicists were able to fix the phenomenon only because Solar system accidentally got in the way of the flow of energy produced by the flash. "Death ... The world's first nanosatellite will look for extraterrestrial life in space ... possible signs of life on so-called exoplanets beyond solar systems. This is reported by the British media. . They are working on the creation of the ExoPlanetSat satellite ... years ago and designed to search for planets. ExoPlanetSat running on solar batteries, will shoot a star at the moment when in front of her ... Future Astronautics Predictions: Mars Colonization and Star Wars ... forever in its cradle on Earth, but will settle throughout solar system. The launch of the satellite and the first steps in space exploration assured ... the Moon, Venus, Mars, the moons of Jupiter and even went beyond solar systems, met with aliens and managed to take part in star wars. The main thing ... to hope for a meeting with living beings of unearthly origin within solar systems unrealistic, but humanity wanted to believe that Mars is inhabited. Indeed, after...Society, 03 Feb 2011, 11:58
Astronomers discover Earth-like planets ... Earth-like planets in other solar systems. Planets roughly the size of our Earth are located in system, consisting of a star and six planets ... the shapes of the orbits of these planets; estimate the number of planets in multistellar systems. The mission of the device will last for about two more years. The north pole of the moon is the coldest place in the solar system The coldest place in solar system, the temperature of which has ever been measured by a spacecraft, found on ... , "temperature conditions on the Moon are among the most extreme in all solar system"." At the height of the day, the temperature at the [lunar] equator can rise to ... at the poles, due to this, there is a slight shift in the angle of incidence solar rays - by about three degrees during the year. "And this...Society, 14 Sep 2009, 16:20
Scientists: There may be thousands of planets in the galaxy "for life" ... scientists. According to staff at University College London, outside of our solar systems there may be thousands of moon-like planets on which existence is possible ... colleagues have managed to find a new way to detect planets beyond our solar systems- the so-called exoplanets. Scientists have been recently engaged in the search for exoplanets, actively competing ... Australian scientists arranged SMS-correspondence with aliens ... Gliese 581d is the closest Earth-like planet beyond solar systems. The expected delivery time is approximately 20 years, and there is no ... planet," said Hello from Earth project spokesman Wilson de Silva. System space SMS-mail was developed in preparation for the National...Society, 06 Feb 2009, 11:03
The scientist counted the number of extraterrestrial civilizations ... the University of Edinburgh. Due to the fact that in recent years outside solar systems more than 330 planets were discovered, scientists were able to compile a more accurate one ... on ours, built solar systems, based on our knowledge of the so-called exoplanets - planets that are outside our solar systems. He then applied... NASA explores the boundaries of the solar system ... into space, a spacecraft designed to find out what is happening at the borders solar systems, according to the Associated Press. The Ibex apparatus (short for "Explorer of interstellar boundaries .... At the point of collision of interstellar matter and sunny wind passes the boundary, which is called the heliopause. She is the one who protects solar system from cosmic radiation. Region ... in 1977. and their main goal was to study other planets solar systems. However, unlike Voyager, Ibex will not leave the limits ...Society, 06 Sep 2008, 15:04
NASA sponsors search for extraterrestrial life NASA Announces Fellowship to Find Planets Beyond solar systems(exoplanets) and traces of life on them, reports Reuters. . In the announcement... a star comparable to the Sun. Since 1994 astronomers have discovered outside solar systems already more than 300 planets, most of which are unsuitable for maintenance ... The smallest planet in the solar system has become even smaller Observational data from the Messenger spacecraft showed the smallest planet solar systems, Mercury, has become even smaller, reports the BBC. . Photo analysis, ... these elements were knocked out of the surface of the planet sunny wind - a stream of charged particles that bombards solar system. Mercury is the closest planet to... Meteorite will tell about the emergence of life on Earth ... a rare meteorite with which scientists hope to understand how Solar system reports the BBC. . The Natural History Museum in London acquired from ... a rare meteorite, with the help of which scientists expect to understand how Solar system reports the BBC. Meteorite "Ivuna" weighing 705 grams fell ... Tanzania. "Ivuna" consists of the same substances from which it was formed Solar system 4.5 billion years ago. Of the 35,000 known meteorites... The planet Pluto has gained a new status ... . This is what Pluto, previously considered the ninth planet, will now be called. solar systems reports the BBC. . Almost two years have passed since ... our solar system there could be more than 50 planets. To prevent this, the members of the IAU made the historic decision to consider that in solar system ... , located even further from the Sun in the Kuiper belt at the boundaries solar systems. According to tradition, the celestial bodies of this belt receive mythological names. The committee... Fastest spinning object in space discovered An amateur astronomer from the UK has discovered the fastest rotating astronomical object in solar system, reports the BBC. According to Richard Miles, the author of the discovery...Astronomers have discovered a mini-copy of the solar system At a distance of 5 thousand light years from our solar systems astronomers have discovered a star that is half the size of the Sun, and ... from a friend exactly two times smaller than in our system, i.e. researchers speak of almost complete proportionality. Observation of this stellar system and the planet began back in 2006. The lens effect increased the brightness...
Society, 23 Sep 2007, 15:03
Scientists discover warm patches on icy Neptune Scientists have found that on Neptune, one of the coldest planets solar systems, where the average air temperature is 320 degrees below zero according to ... the Sun, lasts 165 Earth years. Neptune gets 1/900 part sunny Water found on a planet outside the solar system ... that life exists not only on Earth. . On a planet outside solar systems found water. Scientists from the US National Aeronautics Administration Center... and Uranus. This is the second time water has been discovered on the planet outside solar systems, reports the BBC. Prior to this, American scientists found signs ... scientists hope that on other, "colder" planets beyond solar systems conditions could have developed similar to those that allowed life to arise on ... Astronomers have discovered a planet suitable for life ... an exoplanet (that is, a celestial body orbiting a star outside solar NASA will send Dawn into space to study asteroids ... NASA has decided to resume the program to study the two largest asteroids solar systems- Ceres and Vesta. Previously, preparations for the flight of the Dawn apparatus were suspended ... it is believed that the asteroids Ceres and Vesta formed in different parts solar systems about 4.5 billion years ago, and their study will help ... manned flights and for unmanned cargo flights. Systems ships will be built on the basis of already tested projects and technologies ... A satellite to Pluto was launched from the US spaceport ... non-flying weather.. The spacecraft's destination is the most distant planet solar systems- Pluto. The distance to it is 4.8 billion km. Like... apparently not the last planet in solar system. So, according to American scientists, they managed to discover the tenth planet in system- this statement was made by the representative ...MOSCOW, March 17 - RIA Novosti, Tatyana Pichugina. The ninth planet from the Sun will be discovered in the next decade, according to American astronomers. It moves in an elliptical orbit in the Kuiper Belt, a little-studied region far beyond Neptune. The new data leaves little doubt that a super-Earth exists in the solar system.
Who draws the orbits
Man has been studying the solar system for more than a millennium, but there are still enough white spots. For example, in the 1980s, astronomers were enthusiastically looking for Nemesis - a dark star, partner of the Sun. It was assumed that it could cause an ecological catastrophe on Earth 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs died.
Pluto used to be considered the ninth planet of the solar system, but in 2006 it was deprived of this status, reclassified as a dwarf planet, in fact, an asteroid. The initiator was the American astronomer Michael Brown from the California Institute of Technology (USA). All this he described in the book "How I killed Pluto and why it was inevitable."
The search for a killer star ended in nothing, but ten years later they proved the existence of the Kuiper belt - an area where ice fragments of matter left after the formation of the solar system are concentrated. The largest are about nine hundred kilometers. In total, about two thousand celestial bodies were discovered there.
Brown purposefully explores the Kuiper belt, looking for other trans-Neptunian objects - that is, those that are further from the Sun than Neptune. He discovered 27 celestial bodies, including the dwarf planets Sedna and Eridu.
Among the trans-Neptunian objects there are anomalous ones, whose orbits are very elongated: their major semi-axes extend over 250 astronomical units (distances from the Sun to the Earth), however, the points of the orbits closest to the star are in the same region. To explain this oddity, Brown, along with his Caltech colleague Konstantin Batygin, put forward a hypothesis in 2016 about the existence of another planet in the outskirts of the solar system.
© CC0 / nagualdesign / CaltechSome bodies in the far Kuiper belt have elongated orbits, with perihelia concentrating in one place. The dotted line indicates the orbit of the hypothetical planet ninth predicted in 2016
© CC0 / nagualdesign / Caltech
Some bodies in the far Kuiper belt have elongated orbits, with perihelia concentrating in one place. The dotted line indicates the orbit of the hypothetical planet ninth predicted in 2016
Out of competition
Significant forces were thrown in search of a new planet, amateur astronomers were connected - to no avail. Nevertheless, the hypothesis was not discarded, on the contrary, now it seems even more reasonable. “We were worried that there would be a simpler or more natural explanation for the anomalies we see in the data, and that the Planet Nine hypothesis would soon be irrelevant. But this did not happen. The hypothesis has stood the test of time quite successfully,” writes Konstantin Batygin in his blog.
There are only two alternative versions that explain the anomalies in the orbits of the most distant Kuiper belt objects. The first is observational error. A new one by Brown and Batygin, published in January in The Astronomical Journal, is devoted to its analysis. Scientists have calculated the probability with which the orbits of these bodies look exactly as they are seen now, thanks to an error. The result is only two tenths of a percent. Conclusion: the observed oddities are statistically significant.
Another alternative is the existence of another massive disk in the solar system, consisting of icy planetesimals - the remnants of a protoplanetary disk whose gravity pulls the orbits of trans-Neptunian objects in the same way as an entire planet would. But, notes Michael Brown, this scenario is even more complex.
Super-Earth in the solar system?
The results of two years of searching for the ninth planet are summed up by Brown and Batygin, prepared jointly with colleagues from the University of Michigan for the journal "Physics Reports". Scientists reanalyzed all the facts, refined the characteristics of the hypothetical planet, performed numerical simulations and provided convincing evidence of its existence.
The ninth planet is two times smaller in all respects than it seemed three years ago, explains Batygin. The semi-major axis of its orbit is approximately 400-500 astronomical units, the eccentricity is 0.15-0.3 (an indicator of the contraction of the ellipse), the inclination is 20 degrees. The best simulation results are obtained when the mass of the planet is five times that of the Earth. In any case, ten Earth masses is the ceiling. For comparison: Neptune is 17.2 times heavier.
Judging by the characteristics, the ninth planet is very similar to a super-Earth - a special class of exoplanets often observed around other stars. Perhaps this celestial body did not really form here, but was captured by the Sun at the time of its approach to another star system. However, it is too early to raise the question of the origin of a hypothetical planet.
Wanderer's shelter
The magnitude, or brightness, of the new member of the planetary family is very small - 24-25 magnitudes. This is at the limit of the capabilities of earth technology. The object could have been detected by the Pan-STARRS telescope scanning the entire sky. However, there is a difficulty - the most distant point of the orbit of the celestial body of interest to us may cross the plane of the Milky Way, where there is a high concentration of stars. Against their background, it is difficult to distinguish anything.