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There are many more things in our solar system than the eight (or maybe nine) planets you heard about at school. Space fans were reminded yesterday when a team of researchers announced the discovery of a new dwarf planet dubbed "The Goblin" on the outskirts of our solar system. The dwarf planet, which has a strange orbit, could provide further evidence of the existence of a much larger theoretical world than the Earth, hidden in a region of our solar system difficult to study, called Oort cloud.
The Goblin – formerly known as TG387 2015 – is the largest mass ever found at its distance from the Sun and farthest away. The investigation that revealed The Goblin had previously found two other objects near this beach, Sedna and 2012 VP113. Although each of these objects has a perihelion (the point of their orbit closest to the Sun) farther away than the Goblin, the furthest point away from the Sun is also closer.
Until recently, astronomers did not have the tools to study the materials on the periphery of our solar system. When they started looking, they found a lot of items, says Scott Sheppard, who is part of the team that discovered The Goblin. But many of these objects are close enough to the giant planets we know, like Neptune and Jupiter, for these larger bodies to influence their orbits. Like Sedna and 2012 VP113, 2015 TG387 is too far for that. But these three objects have similarities in their orbit that indicate something big – which, exactly, is still unknown – affecting their orbits.
"For sixty years, Pluto has spearheaded the solar system," says Scott Kenyon, an astrophysicist at Harvard, who did not participate in this study. Everything has changed in recent years, he says, and Sheppard's team is helping us understand the true periphery of our solar system. Here are some answers about their latest find.
What is remarkable about 2015 TG387?
Compared to what the team has already discovered, The Goblin has "a much larger orbit," says Sheppard, "so she's moving away a lot more from the sun than Sedna or the 2012 VP113." It takes about 40,000 years for the dwarf planet to orbit our star, and fortunately the Sheppard team was looking for the right time to spot it.
As a general rule, Sheppard explains, objects hitherto so far are considerably affected by elements outside our solar system. "The goblin is unusual because it does not seem to happen," he says. Using what they knew of its orbit, "we did a lot of simulations and determined that the outside forces were pushing it a bit," he says, "but it's not … not so significant." This means that the Goblin is a perfect object to use as a "probe" to watch what's happening in the Oort cloud. Our sun is still the influence of this region far removed from the solar system, but we do not know much about what exists. Astronomers can observe the movement of objects like The Goblin and model what could affect their orbit.
Why "The goblin"?
Sheppard explains that the object is so weak that astronomers do not know much about it. "We do not know if its surface is as white as snow or as dark as coal," he says. "Because it's not enough, it's not enough on the bottom to create a solid atmosphere," he says.
The spooky title is only a nickname, says Sheppard. His team had been monitoring the object for a while, but it was near Halloween 2015 when they finally determined that its orbit never put it in the range of known planets, so it was important to them . Because "2015 TG387" is embarrassing to say, they took the letters and went with "The Goblin". This is not his final name, however. "It will have to be given an official name in the future, which would probably be based on some sort of mythology of the past," he says, like most celestial objects.
What does its discovery mean for our understanding of the solar system?
A look into the confines of our solar system could also allow us to look at its past. Our current understanding is that the planets were formed from a nebula of materials surrounding the sun's newborn sun. Finally, all the dust and gas accumulated in the planets as we know them. But the current model would have no explanation for the great theoretical mass that seems to affect the orbits of Goblin and his distant colleagues.
If we discover "planet X", as we call it, "it would show that our solar system has formed in a very chaotic environment," Sheppard says. This is because it would be so far from the Sun and scientists should determine how it went there.
Okay, so it may be close to Planet X. What is Planet X?
Planet X, also known as Planet Nine, would explain the orbits of The Goblin and his two colleagues. At their distance from the sun and the big planets we know, you'd expect the orbits of the three to be random, says Kenyon. He did not participate in this study. But even if they are very eccentric – that is, non-circular – none of them seems to be it. "We would like an explanation of why they are not random," he says.
The most likely assumption is that there is another big planet in the Oort cloud, on which these objects are all influenced. It would be the new planet. But whether it is there or not, he says, the goblin and other dwarf planets provide "a better idea of what was the proto-solar nebula four billion years ago."
Is the goblin unique?
The 2015 TC387 has the largest orbit to our knowledge, but that does not mean there is not more of that guy out there. "I think most astronomers suspect that the Oort cloud could be filled with all kinds of dwarf planets," said Alison Earnhart, a physics professor at Juniata College. Popular science in an email. There could also be big ones like Planet X, she writes. But it's one thing to suspect her and another to watch her, she says. "Goblin is another big step forward in our accumulating evidence for what is contained in the Oort cloud, which is still a very mysterious realm because it is so far away," she says. Earnhart, who did not participate in this study, is excited about the new discovery.
Sheppard's team is always looking for objects that could help us understand the history of this region and locate Planet X, if it exists. "This is not a slam dunk [yet]Says Sheppard. They estimate that they will have to find three other objects, doubling their current number, to establish if they are all affected by a larger object in the Oort. They are currently watching a few, he says, but these things take time.
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