(ORDO NEWS) — The solar system is one of the most mysterious parts of the universe. It took several thousand years before scientists figured out how the planets revolve around the sun. However, a new mystery has emerged. Is there a ninth planet?
Starting from the Sun, the planets in the solar system are in this order: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and then comes the possible ninth planet.
Astronomers have been searching for the ninth planet in the solar system since 2016. As a result of mathematical calculations, the existence of another celestial body, also called “Planet X”, was discovered. However, first, let’s talk about the eight existing planets of the solar system.
Mercury
Due to the fact that Mercury is too close to the Sun, there are sharp fluctuations between daytime and nighttime temperatures: during the day, temperatures can reach 450 ° C, which is enough to melt lead. Meanwhile, at night it drops to -180 °C.
Mercury has a very rarefied atmosphere of oxygen, sodium, hydrogen, helium and potassium, and cannot destroy falling meteorites, so its surface is cratered, like the Moon. In addition, water ice and frozen organic compounds exist at the north pole of Mercury.
Venus
The second planet from the Sun, Venus, is Earth’s twin in size. Radar images below its atmosphere have shown that there are various mountains and volcanoes on its surface.
In addition, due to its thick, toxic sulfuric acid atmosphere, Venus has a strong greenhouse effect and is the hottest planet in the solar system. The average temperature on the surface of Venus is 465°C.
Earth
The third planet from the Sun, Earth, is a water world, two-thirds of which is covered by water. It is the only known world that has life.
The Earth’s atmosphere is rich in nitrogen and oxygen. It rotates around its axis at a speed of 467 m / s – just over 1600 km / h at the equator. The Earth revolves around the Sun at a speed of more than 29 km/s.
Mars
Mars is a cold, desert-like planet covered in dust. This dust is made up of iron oxides, giving the planet its iconic red hue. Mars has similarities to Earth: it is rocky, has mountains, valleys, and canyons, as well as storm systems ranging from localized tornado-like dust storms to dust storms that engulf the planet.
Under the surface of Mars lie layers of water ice the size of California, and at both poles are ice caps, partly composed of frozen water. In July 2018, scientists reported that they had found evidence of a liquid lake beneath the surface of the South Pole ice cap. This is the first example of a permanent body of water on the red planet.
Jupiter
Jupiter is the most massive planet in the solar system. According to NASA, it is more than twice as large as all the other planets combined. Its swirling clouds are colorful due to various gases.
The main feature of its swirling clouds is the Great Red Spot, a giant storm over 16,000 km wide. For the last 150 years, it has raged at a speed of over 178 m/s.
Saturn
The sixth planet from the sun, Saturn, is best known for its rings. When scientist Galileo Galilei first studied Saturn in the early 1600s, he thought it was an object made up of three parts: a planet and two large moons on either side. After 40 years, Christian Huygens suggested that these were rings.
The rings are made of ice and stone. At the moment, scientists cannot explain their formation. The gaseous planet is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, and also has many satellites.
Uranus
The seventh planet from the sun is Uranus. It has clouds of hydrogen sulfide, the same chemical that makes rotten eggs smell so bad.
Astronomers believe that an object twice the size of Earth collided with Uranus about 4 billion years ago, causing Uranus to tilt.
This tilt causes extreme seasons that last more than 20 years, and the Sun may not fall at one pole of the planet until 84 Earth years. The impact is also thought to have kicked rock and ice into Uranus’ orbit. Later they became one of the 27 satellites of the planet.
Neptune
Neptune is similar in size to Uranus and is known for strong supersonic winds as well as low temperatures. This is the first planet whose existence was predicted by mathematics even before it was discovered visually.
The irregularities in Uranus’s orbit led French astronomer Alexis Bouvard to speculate that another planet might be experiencing a gravitational pull.
Mysterious ninth planet
In 2016, researchers speculated on the possible existence of a ninth planet, now dubbed “Planet X”. It is about 10 times the mass of the Earth and revolves around the Sun 300-1000 times further than the Earth.
Scientists have deduced the planet’s existence from its gravitational effects on other objects in the Kuiper belt, a region on the outskirts of the solar system inhabited by icy rocks left over from the birth of the solar system. They are also called trans-Neptunian objects, and have highly elliptical or oval orbits aligned in the same direction.
A recent hypothesis proposed in September 2019 suggests that “planet X” may not be a planet. Scientists from the University of Durham and Illinois believe it could be a primordial black hole that formed shortly after the Big Bang and was later captured by the solar system, Newsweek reports. However, there is no exact information yet.
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