Interstellar object could prove the existence of Planet Nine

(ORDO NEWS) — Scientists suspect that a giant planet is hiding in the most remote corners of the solar system.

This colossal planet exerts its gravitational pull on trans-Neptunian objects and even on interstellar objects that pass through the solar system, according to a new study.

Presumably, there is still an undiscovered planet beyond the orbit of Pluto. This hypothetical world is about five times the size of the Earth and revolves around the Sun in a very elongated elliptical orbit.

So far, the planet exists only in theory, since convincing evidence of its existence has not yet been found.

However, according to scientists, the interstellar object CNEOS 14, which collided with our planet in 2014, may be the final proof of the existence of the Ninth planet.

In 2014, the object fell into the Pacific Ocean and was identified by Harvard astrophysicist Abi Loeb and his student Amir Siraj using NASA data.

Professor Loeb explains that this object is of great importance, so he organized an expedition, hoping to find fragments of a celestial body at the bottom of the ocean.

A small interstellar object, believed to be less than one meter across, was moving through the solar system at a speed of 60 kilometers per second.

The too high speed of the object made experts suspect that it came to us from a distant star system.

To find out, scientists will have to take into account the moment that the object accelerated with the help of the gravity of one of the planets in the solar system.

They can do this by reconstructing its trajectory and making sure it hasn’t passed close to any of the known planets in the solar system.

But what if a curious object really interacted with a planet in the solar system. With a planet we still haven’t found, maybe Planet Nine?

This is the question asked by researchers Hector Socas-Navarro and Ignacio Trujillo Cabrera from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands.

To unravel this mystery, they ran several simulations reconstructing the object’s path through the solar system.

They were surprised to find that either there is something completely strange about interstellar objects that we do not know about, or there is a 99.9% chance that a massive planet exists in the outermost regions of the solar system.

Based on their calculations, the researchers believe that the object, known as CNEOS14, was turned in our direction by a giant unknown object in the outer solar system, possibly the hypothetical Planet Nine, approximately 30 to 60 years ago.

Researcher Trujillo Cabrera explains that if their calculations are correct, by tracing CNEOS14’s trajectory, they can find out where Planet Nine is hiding.

According to their calculations, the mysterious planet must be very close to the region of the sky where the constellations of Aries, Taurus and Cetus converge.

However, at the moment, scientists are cautious in their conclusions and clarify that this is still only a hypothesis.

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