Dwarf Planet Could Potentially Bypass the Outskirts of Our Solar System
In a recent study, researchers at Princeton University have cast doubt on the theory of an unseen giant planet, Planet Nine, on the solar system's outer edges. The team's findings, shared on May 21, suggest that the orbit of a distant object, 2017 OF201, does not align with the clustered orbits used to support the existence of Planet Nine.
Discovered in the far reaches of the solar system, 2017 OF201 has an estimated diameter of approximately 700 kilometers (435 miles), making it too big to be an asteroid but too small to be a full-fledged planet. If confirmed, it would qualify as a dwarf planet.
The path of 2017 OF201 around the sun is a huge, stretched-out oval, with its farthest point from the sun more than 1,600 times Earth's distance from the sun. This unique orbit is approximately 90 degrees different from the orientation of the cluster of neighboring objects' orbits, further complicating the search for Planet Nine.
Computer models have been used to investigate the implications of 2017 OF201's orbit for the proposed orbit of Planet Nine. However, the current simulations show that 2017 OF201's observed path around the sun cannot be replicated with the currently proposed orbit for Planet Nine.
Despite these findings, the possibility of Planet Nine still exists. It may have a different orbit that could explain 2017 OF201's unique path. Astrophysicist Cheng, from Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, is leading the search for more data to confirm 2017 OF201's dwarf planet status and to explore how different orbits for Planet Nine might influence 2017 OF201's orbit.
First proposed in 2016, Planet Nine, also known as Planet X, is a proposed yet undiscovered world. If it exists, its mass is estimated to be between 4 to 17 times that of Earth, and its orbit is estimated to be between 400 and 800 AU from the Sun, with an orbital period of about 10,000 to 20,000 years. Its orbit is anti-aligned with the clustered Kuiper Belt objects, allowing it to gravitationally maintain their unusual orbits.
The studies about 2017 OF201 were posted on arXiv.org but have not yet passed peer review. As the search for Planet Nine continues, the findings about 2017 OF201 add a new layer of complexity to the mystery of the solar system's outer edges.
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