Planet X killer may be sending comets straight to Earth

You should know that before science - taking Pluto from the title of planet - established that our solar system is made up of eight members, several hypothetical stars were considered to be responsible for orbital anomalies and discrepancies, and even today astronomers are seeking unknown worlds in the confines of our "neighborhood".

In fact, it even makes sense that scientists really look for candidates! After all, it was thanks to the purpose of finding the supposed Planet X that Neptune was discovered beyond Uranus in 1846 - and Pluto was found beyond Neptune in the 1930s.

Incidentally, it was because of the desire to find other worlds than Pluto that astronomers located numerous large bodies, some as large as the dwarf planet - and poor Pluto "fell" in category and lost the planet designation.

Planet X Candidate

According to Brian Koberlein of Forbes, a group of astronomers appear to have discovered a possible super Earth from data collected by the Atacama Large Millimiter Array (ALMA), a major radio telescope located in Chile.

According to Brian, the star was observed twice in the direction of Alpha Centauri - which is the closest star system to the Solar System - just 4 light years from Earth, and the observations made so far are enough to confirm that there is “something” around the limits of our solar system. On the other hand, the news is so recent that astronomers have not yet had a chance to find out much about the star.

At the moment, scientists believe that the orbit of the “Planet X” candidate is 300 AU (or astronomical units) away, which allowed them to estimate the size of the star to be 1.5 times the size of the planet. the land.

If the calculations are correct - and the astronomers' discovery is confirmed - this means that it is the first super Earth found in our Solar System. In addition, the object would become the farthest planet from the Sun, far, far beyond Pluto, which is only 40 AU away.

It will be?

The news about the possible discovery of a new planet in the Solar System is beyond exciting, but, according to Lee Billings of the Scientific American portal, it was also met with skepticism. This is because there are still more questions than answers about the possible world.

Although astronomers have calculated the distance and size of the possible Planet X, the results are estimates, and their orbit has not yet been established. In fact, for the star to exist at the proposed distance, it would have to have an extremely inclined orbit - which, while not impossible, is very unusual for a super earth.

Theories

One theory is that instead of a super Earth, astronomers may have located a brown dwarf that would be 20, 000 AU away. However, it is worth remembering that this type of star is usually visible in the infrared spectrum, and previous surveys have not detected the star. Not to mention that its proximity to Alpha Centauri would make it relatively easy to find.

Another proposal is that the object be a simple rocky star located 100 AU away. If so, it would be the farthest object from the Solar System, but still, because of its distance, it would be smaller than Pluto - that is, the candidate for "Planet X". would be far from qualifying as a planet.

Interestingly, it was not long ago that scientists presented studies on the possible existence of planets besides Pluto - you can read the article we posted in Mega Curious through this link. Observations by Spanish scientists have suggested the presence of one or two stars with dimensions that would classify them as super Earths, and if it is confirmed that the identified object is now a planet, the discovery would confirm their proposed theories.

***

To define what astronomers have finally discovered will require many observations and studies. However, regardless of what scientists actually see, there is no doubt that there is something deep within our Solar System - even if that "something" is not the legendary Planet X.

Do you believe there are more planets in the Solar System than we already know? Comment on the Mega Curious Forum