Planetary scientists claim that they have gathered evidence of a new giant planet — Planet Nine. This followed their success in mapping more objects beyond Neptune.
They are exuding the optimism that the Ninth Planet might be lurking behind the eight established planets and other dwarf planets at the outer reaches of the solar system.
In January, Konstantin Batygin and Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology released the evidence of a huge undiscovered ninth planet.
Based on the computer models they developed, the claim was a corollary of the tilted orbits of celestial bodies in the Kuiper Belt of icy objects borne of excessive gravitational pull by another invisible entity.
To locate the Planet Nine, scientists are in a race and are using the biggest telescopes such as the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii.
Elusive Planet Nine
According to estimates, Planet Nine is likely to be 10 times more massive than the Earth and will take 17,000 years to orbit the sun. The distant, hypothetical world Planet 9 is primarily explained by the presence of tilted orbits of six icy bodies beyond Neptune.
These trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and possible clustered orbits at the opposite side of the solar system are reinforcing Planet Nine's existence.
These points were also raised by Batygin and fellow Caltech astronomer Mike Brown in late January. Many teams are now working to find out Planet Nine to earn the laurels.
Papers on the topic were presented at the American Astronomical Society conference in Pasadena. Their enthusiasm was shared by Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington D.C.
"Probably 90 percent sure there's a planet out there," Sheppard said.
Search For Planet Nine
The quest for Planet 9 intensified in 2003 when Brown spotted Sedna, a very distant body in the solar system. It triggered thought waves regarding the high gravitational influence and the pull Sedna might be experiencing in keeping it locked to the elongated orbit.
This led to indications of the possible presence of a star or Milky Way's own gravitational tides working on Sedna. The discovery of more TNOs clustered in the sky strengthened Brown and Batygin's quest further.
Their subsequent modeling showed the high gravity of a giant planet pushing these objects out of their trajectory with other objects bundling together at the opposite side of the solar system.
The possible orbital position of Planet Nine was also given by Batygin and Brown's who said it might be slanted and jutting out by 30° relative to the ecliptic.
Astronomers Batygin, Brown, Sheppard are using the Subaru Telescope thanks to its Hyper Suprime-Cam covering large parts of the sky. Their hope is to find Planet Nine somewhere in the constellation Orion.
Batygin and Brown's recent run in September covered 10 percent of Planet Nine's supposed orbit and Batygin rightly believes "there's a 10 percent chance it's in the bag."
Look Beyond The Milky Way
However, one section of astronomers is skeptical and says the clues on Planet Nine are sparse and unconvincing.
"I give it about a 1 percent chance of turning out to be real," says astronomer JJ Kavelaars, who works at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, Canada.
Kavelaars feels the clustering by Brown and Batygin is not real and suggests astronomers have to look beyond the bright Milky Way in spotting objects like Planet 9 and must use more powerful wide-field telescopes.
