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Very low probability of 'Planet Nine' existence, believe scientists

Researchers Also Examine The Possibility That Planet Nine Actually Formed At A Great Distance To Begin With. They Found That The Right Combination Of Initial Disk Mass And Disk Lifetime Could Potentially Create Planet Nine In Time For It To Be Nudged By A Passing Star.

News Nation Bureau | Edited By : Bindiya Bhatt | Updated on: 05 May 2016, 09:14:27 PM
Planet Nine may not exist at all, says study

New Delhi:

The discovery of mysterious ‘Planet Nine’ with evidence by scientists earlier this year had left the theorists puzzled that how this planet, a Neptune-mass world that may circle our Sun at a distance of about 64 billion to 225 billion kilometres to 225 billion km, or 400-1,500 astronomical units, could exist in such a distant orbit. However, not the scientists believe that ‘Planet 9’ may not exist at all or there is a very low probability of its existence.

“The evidence points to Planet Nine existing, but we can’t explain for certain how it was produced,” lead author Gongjie Li, Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics (CfA), said. The said distance of ‘Planet Nine’ puts it far beyond all the other planets that are present in our solar system. Millions of computer simulations were conducted by the researchers in order to establish three possibilities. The first and most likely involves a passing star that tugs Planet Nine outward.

Such an interaction would not only nudge the planet into a wider orbit but also make that orbit more elliptical. Since the Sun formed in a star cluster with several thousand neighbours, such stellar encounters were more common in the early history of our solar system. However, an interloping star is more likely to pull the planet away completely and eject it from the solar system. Researchers find only a 10 per cent probability, at best, of Planet Nine landing in its current orbit. The planet would have had to start at an improbably large distance to begin with.

Using computer simulations, researchers studied plausible scenarios for the formation of Planet Nine in a wide orbit. “The simplest solution is for the solar system to make an extra gas giant,” said CfA astronomer Scott Kenyon. Researchers propose that Planet Nine formed much closer to Sun and interacted with gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn. A series of gravitational kicks then could have boosted the planet into a larger and more elliptical orbit over time.

“Think of it like pushing a kid on a swing. If you give them a shove at the right time, over and over, they’ll go higher and higher,” said Kenyon. “Then the challenge becomes not shoving the planet so much that you eject it from the solar system,” he said. That could be avoided by interactions with the solar system’s gaseous disk, he suggests.

Researchers also examine the possibility that Planet Nine actually formed at a great distance to begin with. They found that the right combination of initial disk mass and disk lifetime could potentially create Planet Nine in time for it to be nudged by a passing star.

Researchers looked at possibilities of Planet Nine being an exoplanet that was captured from a passing star system, or a free-floating planet that was captured when it drifted close by our solar system. However, they conclude that the chances of either scenario are less than 2 per cent. The study was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. 

(With inputs from PTI)

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First Published : 05 May 2016, 01:49:00 PM

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