New world Sedna discovered in solar system. What this means for Planet Nine
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Discovery of a new cosmic body beyond Neptune hints that Planet Nine might not be real.
Scientists are almost sure that there is a ninth planet. But a study by Japanese astronomers hints that this might not be true. A new cosmic body called a sednoid has been discovered near the Kuiper Belt, and it almost proves that Planet Nine is a myth.
Scientists have been wondering for years whether there is a ninth planet in our solar system. Now, a study by Japanese scientists seems to bust that belief. They have found an object orbiting the Sun at the very extremes of our star system and have named it Ammonite. Its scientific name is 2023 KQ14, and its discovery has raised a question mark on the existence of Planet Nine. An analysis of its orbit does not align with the calculations done on other cosmic objects roaming in that zone of the solar system. Astronomers in Japan came across “Ammonite” using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. They announced its discovery in a paper published on Tuesday (15 July) in Nature Astronomy. Is it a planet or a dwarf planet? Neither. Ammonite is a sednoid, the name given to any cosmic body encircling the Sun beyond Neptune with a highly eccentric orbit. It's only the fourth sednoid ever discovered. 2023 KQ14 comes as close as 66 astronomical units from the sun, and as far away as 252 au. One astronomical unit is equal to the distance between Earth and the Sun. Also Read: Is Planet Nine lurking in the solar system? We might know in 2025
Planet Nine believed to exist beyond Neptune
What makes Ammonite stand out is its strange orbit, which is different from the other three sednoids. Beyond Neptune, in the Kuiper Belt, several small bodies are orbiting the Sun in highly elongated yet similarly oriented orbits. This includes the dwarf planet Sedna, and 2012 VP113, 2004 VN112, 2010 GB174, 2013 RF98 and 2007 TG422. This unusual clustering triggered the theory that something has pulled them all together there. Astronomers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown were the first to discuss it in 2016. This led them to believe that a bigger body is likely exerting gravitational pull on them. The existence of Planet Nine would explain this occurrence, as its gravitational pull could be a reason for their similarly aligned orbits. However, 2023 KQ14, despite having an elliptical orbit, follows a different path than the others. Study authors say this raises serious doubts about Planet Nine. "The fact that 2023 KQ14’s current orbit does not align with those of the other three sednoids lowers the likelihood of the Planet Nine hypothesis," said Dr. Yukun Huang of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in a press release. Also Read: Planet Nine might exist after all as scientists detect something lurking way beyond Pluto
Where could ninth planet be?
So, what led to these objects gathering in this region of the solar system? Huang says it is possible that there once was a ninth planet whose presence pulled these bodies there, and also gave the other eight planets their current orbits. However, it could have been ejected, or it might still be out there, just even farther than where it was earlier hypothesised to be. "It is possible that a planet once existed in the Solar System but was later ejected, causing the unusual orbits we see today.” The latest study almost bursts the bubble of Planet Nine. Scientists have for years been obsessing over it, pointing to major evidence on its existence. It has always been believed to be just so far away that we have not had a chance to observe it. If Planet Nine does exist, it would be bigger in mass than Neptune, and would lie anywhere between 400 and 800 AU (Astronomical Units) from the Sun. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile is being touted as the frontrunner in the discovery of this ninth planet. This could happen as soon as the year 2026.
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