Scientists have intimate that previous gravitational evidence thought to point towards the existence of Planet Nine may not be what it appears .
In astudyled by theUniversity of Colorado Boulder , the squad suggested that “ bumper railway car - corresponding interactions ” at the border of the Solar System may explain the weird motion of some object we can see out there . Their findings were present at the 232nd meeting of the American Astronomical Society .
In 2016 , Caltech stargazer Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brownproposed the existenceof Planet Nine base on the clustering of Kuiper Belt Objects ( KBOs ) beyond Neptune . These objects hint they are being shepherded by an unseen planet . So far , wehaven’t found it .
A premature study in 2014 had suggest asimilar conclusionto explain the orbit of the pocket-sized satellite Sedna , which seems to be detached from the rest of the Solar System . Other bodies out at this space also seem to be detach .
In this latest study , however , the researchers suggest that the unusual orbits of these object may be the outcome of them bumping into each other and space debris , rather than a hidden major planet . It may be that the collective gravity of these object has clomp them together .
“ You see a pileup of the orbits of pocket-size objects to one side of the Sun , ” Jacob Fleisig , the lead author on the research , said in astatement . “ These orbits crash into the bigger body , and what happens is those interaction will change its orbital cavity from an oval bod to a more orbitual shape . ”
The orbits of the object were compare to the 60 minutes handwriting and the minute hands on the clock , with the former being larger objects like Sedna and the latter being diminished objects like asteroids . And as they clash together , they could all get tangled up with each other .
Do n’t govern out Planet Nine just yet , though . Because Batygin toldPopular Mechanicshe did not concur with the possibility , saying that there would need to be more mass in the Kuiper Belt for this account to work .
" unluckily , the self - gravity tale suffers from the keep abreast complications , " he said . " Both experimental and theoretical estimates place the total mass of the Kuiper Belt at a value significantly smaller than that of the Earth . As a aftermath , Kuiper Belt objects by and large behave like tryout - particles enslaved by Neptune ’s gravitative pull , rather than a self - interact group of planetoids . "
It ’s credibly not enough to rule against or in favor of Planet Nine just yet . But any bold scientific claim like this will , of course , demand to stand up up to the rigors of examination , if it really exists .
