Caltech scientists found the first evidence of Phattie the possible ninth planet in the Solar System.
Their results, published in the Astronomical Journal, were made possible thanks to the mathematical modeling and computer simulation.
A little over a century, an eccentric millionaire obsessed with astronomy. Not that Percival Lowell was interested only by scan the sky from his observatory in Arizona, but also gave fuel to false hypotheses as he spoke of the existence of alleged "canals" on Mars. But perhaps his most famous extravagance, she says Daniel Marin in his blog, was the search for Planet X. A hidden world located on the edge of the solar system, which according to the calculations of Lowell, should present a mass 6.6 times above the Earth.
The millionaire turned-astronomer came to shoot twice to Pluto in 1915, but did not notice his discovery. A year later, Lowell died without having achieved his greatest challenge. The challenge was proposed again in 1929, when the director of Lowell Observatory decided to instruct the young Clyde Tombaugh the search for the mysterious and enigmatic planet X. With a telescope of 31 centimeters, Tombaugh discovered in 1930 the world would have liked to see both Lowell. Pluto was the ninth planet in the solar system at that time, which received its name thanks to the imagination of Venetia Burney, an eleven years. The remaining part of the story: Pluto no longer a planet in 2006 by decision of the International Astronomical Union and prompted NASA's New Horizons mission to learn more about this dwarf planet.
But the old dream of Percival Lowell now has a new surprise. Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have found the first evidence of the existence of the ninth planet, which have informally referred to as Phattie. Their preliminary results have been published in the Astronomical Journal and show that the "Planet Nine" could have a mass ten times that of Earth. According to his calculations, this hypothetical new planet would take between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make one complete revolution of the sun.
The findings of their study, however, be taken with a lot of caution. First, as recognized from Caltech, evidence has been obtained through mathematical modeling and computer simulations. In other words, astronomers have not been able to directly observe Phattie. To do this, this would be a "real world" and would present a mass 5,000 times that of Pluto, which would be part of that category of dwarves-and planets of the solar system planets. Their results explain in principle some mysterious characteristics of icy, rocky objects that can be seen in the Kuiper belt. In particular, the ninth planet hypothetical justify some of the odd orbits presented by these bodies.
Although the study rekindled the hopes of observing the ninth planet in the solar system, the scientific community urges caution when analyzing these results. Researchers like Hal Levison of the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, in Nature argues that "has seen many claims of this kind in his career and that all were wrong." One of the study's authors, Konstantin Batygin, however, explains that it is "strong evidence" to justify the planetary census of the solar system is incomplete. Jim Green, director of NASA's planetary science, told the Washington Post that "there could be other explanations for the strange movements of objects in the Kuiper belt." "We must apply the rule of Sagan [which states that" extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence "]," says Green, who challenged scientists to directly observe the existence of the ninth planet to prove that Phattie is a reality. Therefore, we expect to have more research to see which one is the reality. Will the ninth planet Phattie finally discover he craved Lowell in his day?
They discovered a new ninth planet in the Solar System
All life taught us that the Earth has eight planets "neighbors" and that among the nine form the solar system.
A few years ago, in 2006, we revolutionized astronomers to confirm our beliefs actually are only eight planets, because Pluto is too small to fall within that category.
Why Pluto objective of the New Horizons mission, no longer planet?
Now one of the experts responsible for "down" status of Pluto again surprised with a new ad: yes would end nine planets, as there is one until now unknown, hidden in the farthest reaches of our system.
The expert from the prestigious California Institute of Technology (Caltech) Michael Brown published together with his colleague Konstantin Batygin research that describes the star like a giant ice planet that would be beyond the orbit of Pluto.
According to the study, which was published Wednesday in The Astronomical Journal (The Astronomical Journal), this planet would have a size between five and ten times larger than the Earth.
And it takes between 10,000 and 20,000 years to circle the sun.
But despite providing these details, Brown and Batygin admit that they have never seen such a planet and there is also no reliable record of their presence.
The announcement of their existence is based on observations that account for the presence of a "massive disturbing" that affects the trajectory of other space objects.
According to experts, the "disturbing" that this star would have dubbed the "Nine Planet".
Inference
These smaller space objects that were observed include a series of dwarf planets recently discovered by Brown and other scientists in the solar system.
Astronomers noticed that the orbits of these bodies appear to be influenced by the gravity of a hidden planet.
Brown and Batygin actually were not the first to notice: in 2014 two scientists, Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institute of Science and Chad Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii, made the same observation.
They saw that the orbits of some space bodies go out of their path in the same quadrant of the solar system and are inclined at the same angle.
They attributed to the existence of a large planet whose gravitational field was "pushing" to those objects.
Brown revealed that actually began researching the subject not to confirm but to refute that theory.
According to astronomer, whenever strangers typical orbital behavior is attributed to the existence of unknown planets are observed.
