Opening a small planet beyond Neptune questioned the "ninth planet"

Since there appeared the possibility that the orbit of the Sun somewhere beyond Neptune can spin , astronomers were busy with her. One group is exploring four new moving object detected by members of the public to see if they could be potential new discoveries in the Solar system. Most interestingly, these scientists found something that may put into question the whole future of the existence of the ninth planet.

One of these discoveries was the discovery of a small planet in the outer Solar system: 2013 SY99. This little ice world has such a long orbit, one long, loop the transition it takes 20,000 years. We found SY99 using a telescope Canada-France-Hawaii survey of the origin of the outer Solar system. A large distance to the SY99 means that this small planet is moving very slowly across the sky. Our measurements showed that the orbit of the body is a very elongated ellipse with a closest approach to the Sun within 50 astronomical units (1 a. E. is the distance from the earth to the Sun).

A small planet winds even further than the previously discovered dwarf planets such as Sedna and 2013 VP113. The long axis of its orbital ellipse is 730 astronomical units. Our observations of other telescopes showed that the SY99 is a small, reddish world with a diameter of about 250 kilometers.

SY99 — one of the seven known small worlds that are in orbit beyond Neptune at considerable distances. How these "extreme TRANS-Neptunian objects" are located in their orbits, is unclear: their long journey isolated in space. The closest approach to the Sun is so far from Neptune that they are considered "separate" from the powerful gravitational influence of the giant planets of our Solar system. But the farthest point they're still too close to be pushed slow streams of the galaxy.

It has been suggested that extreme TRANS-Neptunian objects can be grouped in space by the gravitational influence of the "ninth planet" that orbits far beyond Neptune. The attraction of this planet could pull of the planet and to separate their orbits, continuously changing their tilt. But the existence of this planet is far from proven.

In fact, its existence is based only on the orbits of six objects that are very dim and hard to find, even using large telescopes. It's like looking deep into the ocean in search of a certain fish. Fish at the surface would be clearly visible. But at a meter depth, everything becomes vague and unclear. Somewhere at the bottom of the fish become totally invisible. But the presence of fish near the surface prevents to see the fish on the bottom and thus does not issue the presence of the latter.

This implies that the opening of the SY99 cannot prove or disprove the existence of "the ninth planet". But computer models show that a Ninth planet would be a hostile neighbor to tiny worlds like the SY99: its gravitational influence would have changed the orbit of this planet — completely throwing her out of the Solar system or pushed it into orbit is so highly inclined and distant that we would not have seen. SY99 can be one of the many small worlds, which are constantly absorbed and emitted by this planet.

Alternative explanations

It Turns out that there are other explanations. Scientists have presented for publication in the Astronomical Journal a study that touched on this idea of conventional physics, like diffusion. This phenomenon is often found in the ordinary world. Diffusion essentially explains the random movement of substance from region of high concentration to an area of low concentration as, for example, in the room spilled perfume.

They showed that a certain form of diffusion can lead to the fact that the orbits of the small planets will change the ellipse at 730. E. long axis to the ellipse in 2000. E. long axis or more — and back. In the process the size of each orbit will change to a random value. When the SY99 is implementing the approach in the near distance every 20,000 years, Neptune is often located in another part of its orbit at the opposite end of the Solar system. But when SY99 and Neptune are close, the gravity of Neptune will gently push SY99, slightly changing its speed. When SY99 away from the Sun, its orbit will be following the other.

The Long axis of the ellipse SY99 will change, becoming more or less in the process of "random walk" as it is called physics. The change of the orbit occurs in a truly astronomical time scales. It dissipates in space for tens of millions of years. The long axis of the ellipse SY99 could change to hundreds of astronomical units in the entire history of the Solar system 4.5 billion years.

A Few other extreme TRANS-Neptunian objects with smaller orbits also show the diffusion, but on a smaller scale. One move and the other. It is highly likely that the gradual diffusion effects act on tens of millions of tiny worlds spinning in the middle edge of the Oort cloud (the sphere of icy objects at the edge of the Solar system). It is a gentle effect, slowly leads to the fact that some of them accidentally shifting its orbit closer to us where we see them as extreme TRANS-Neptunian objects.

And yet diffusion can not explain remote orbit of Sedna, the nearest point which is too far away from Neptune, so that he could affect the shape of its orbit. Perhaps Sedna got my orbit from a passing star long ago. But diffusion could be of extreme TRANS-Neptunian objects from the inner Oort cloud — without any need for the ninth planet. To find out for sure, we will have to try to make more discoveries in this remote region nearest to us space. This will help us our greatest telescopes.