Briley Lewis (she/her) is a freelance science writer and Ph.D. Candidate/NSF Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles studying Astronomy & Astrophysics. Follow her on Twitter @briles_34 or visit her website www.briley-lewis.com.
Almost a decade after astronomers proposed the existence of Planet 9, an unseen extra planet in the distant reaches of the solar system, they still haven’t all agreed whether it’s real or not. Now, new research from Caltech astronomers just uncovered an extra line of evidence in favor of the hidden planet. Their computer simulations require Planet 9’s gravitational kick to explain how small bits of rock and ice from around Neptune’s orbit end up close to the sun.
Now, the Caltech team just showed how Planet 9 could be necessary to explain a different group of TNOs, which were somehow chucked towards the sun. An object on a path that crosses Neptune’s orbit, dips towards the sun, and swings back shouldn’t be able to stay that way for long. If we see objects in these kinds of orbits, something has to be pushing them to be there—perhaps even Planet 9.
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Where do all those colors in space telescope images come from?Briley Lewis (she/her) is a freelance science writer and Ph.D. Candidate/NSF Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles studying Astronomy & Astrophysics. Follow her on Twitter briles_34 or visit her website www.briley-lewis.com.
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