The papers present evidence of the super-earth in the external solar system

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Two new academic articles present new evidence that a large yet unknown planet is hiding in the outer solar system.

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Two new academic papers, one published in The Astronomical Journal and the other in Physics Reports, present new evidence that a vast, yet unknown planet is hiding in the outer solar system.

The two articles coincide with the third anniversary of the announcement by astronomers Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin, both of Caltech, of their theory that a large distant planet is responsible for the single clustering of several objects in the Kuiper Belt. well beyond Neptune. and Pluto. More precisely, these KBOs are on orbits perpendicular to the plane of the solar system.

It is assumed that the planet is in an elliptical orbit around the Sun and that its gravitational tug is at the origin of the unique positions of KBOs. At 60 billion kilometers beyond the Earth, it would take about 10,000 years for the body to orbit the Sun.

Some scientists wonder if the KBOs are truly grouped as Brown and Batygin describe it, claiming that the apparent clustering could be the result of an observation bias rather than a real one.

Brown and Batygin are not the first to propose the existence of one or more large planets of the outer solar system. To date, research has not discovered any of these proposed worlds.

Fred Adams of the University of Michigan, who believes that this last proposed planet exists and is the lead author of the second article, expects it to be found in 10 to 15 years thanks to studies of the sky deeper and more sensitive.

"I think that by 2030, we will have seen or have a better idea of ​​where it is located," Adams said. "Of course, it is also possible that at that time we may have alternative explanations for observed orbital anomalies."

Another explanation is that a star or a brown dwarf has long passed near the solar system, disrupting the KBOs in question. A citizen search on the hypothetical planet revealed several relatively similar brown dwarfs, but none are in solar orbit.

In their latest research, Brown and Batygin have created a method for testing bias in each individual observation of the allegedly grouped KBOs. Their method gave a 500 chance that the observations are biased or incorrect.

Adams and his colleagues conducted a separate study using computer models of the dynamic evolution of the solar system and the possible influence of a distant and gigantic planet. Their findings suggest that the proposed planet is smaller and closer to the Sun than it was originally thought, turning around 60 billion kilometers beyond the Earth.

With a size five to ten times larger than the Earth's, the planet would be too small to be a gas giant, but would rather be a super-Earth in the image of those found in many exoplanet systems.

"This is the missing link in the solar system for the formation of the planet," Adams said. "Over the last decade, investigations of extrasolar planets have revealed that planets of similar size are very common around other stars similar to those of the Sun."

According to Adams, a super-Earth in the outer solar system would be "the closest thing we can find in a window to the properties of a typical planet in our galaxy".

Tagged: Kuiper Planet 9 Planet X Belt The Range