Astronomers may have discovered a huge new planet in our solar system. But how Planet Nine, as the newcomer is called, looks like nobody knows. He is in fact discovered based on calculations. Five questions to planet researcher Daphne Stam of TU Delft.
A new planet in our solar system, how special is that?
This is very special, probably because it is a big planet, and that does not happen often. The last time astronomers discovered a planet of this size was in 1846, which was Neptune. After that discovered the planet Pluto in 1930, but which is really a lot smaller.
Who is “the new” and what can we do with it?
It’s a big planet, about ten times heavier than Earth. And he is very far away, probably some 30 billion kilometers. For comparison; which is twice more than the planet Neptune, which was always the most far away so far from Earth. Nine planet revolves around the sun, but it is terribly cold. You have to imagine that it is a huge lump of ice, without a bottom where you might land on. The new planet concerned itself mainly composed of gas with lots of ice in it.
How can you discover a planet based on calculations?
Astronomer Michael Brown, Planet Nine discovered, much smaller planets has previously been found in this way. What he saw during his most recent discovery is that these small planets inexplicable hurtle through the solar system, rather they move around the sun in a beautiful round. And that is according to Brown because the orbits of these planets are disturbed by the presence of a big planet: Planet Nine. All calculations in this way perfectly fit in each other. But in fact, no one has yet seen Planet Nine.
How certain is it that Planet Nine really exists?
That’s still not quite sure, but all calculations done so far do point out the existence of these new large planet. There are even more necessary calculations, but it seems really that this planet exists. Another planet, Neptune, was discovered in this way. Mathematicians had in the 18th century, based on calculations presume that Neptune should exist. But the telescopes at that time were obviously not very good, so it took many years before they finally Neptune actually saw.
And when can we expect the first photo of Planet Nine?
That is very difficult to predict, because you have to have some luck. There is now a very large region of space where the planet might be, but with most telescopes can only see a tiny part of our galaxy. In Hawaii A telescope that can scour a wider area, which is now running at full speed. So maybe next month already appears a picture of Planet Nine, but it may take just as good five years
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