The ‘Planet Nine’, a celestial object up to 10 times larger than Earth, may actually be a grapefruit-sized black hole, and a new telescope could help detect it.
Objects ‘clustered’ in a strange way beyond Neptune’s orbit have led astronomers to suggest that ‘something big’ is interfering with its orbit.
According to astronomers, this could be a massive planet or a “primordial black hole” that encapsulates the mass of up to 10 Earth-sized objects in a grapefruit-sized sphere.
Researchers from Harvard University and the Black Hole Initiative believe that a new “wide field” telescope being built in Chile could confirm the true nature of “Planet Nine”.
Known as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, it will be able to scan large swaths of the southern sky repeatedly, giving astronomers a wealth of data about the universe.
The ‘planet’ could be a massive planet or a ‘primordial black hole’ that groups the mass of up to 10 Earth-sized objects into a grapefruit-sized sphere, according to astronomers
It will conduct a Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) when it is online in 2022 in an attempt to search for accretion flares emitted around black holes.
Harvard researchers have developed a new technique that this survey could use to help determine if a small black hole actually lies beyond Neptune.
In a new article published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Avi Loeb and Frank Baird explain that he would look for flares that result from the disruption of comets.
“In the vicinity of a black hole, small bodies approaching it melt as a result of heating of the gas-accumulating bottom of the interstellar medium in the black hole,” said university student Amir Siraj, also involved in the study. .
Known as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory (pictured), you’ll be able to scan large swaths of the southern sky repeatedly, giving astronomers a wealth of data about the universe
“Once they melt, small bodies are subject to tidal disruption by the black hole, followed by tidal-disrupted body buildup in the black hole.”
Because black holes are dark, the radiation matter emitted when you approach the object’s mouth is the only way to detect if there is one there or not.
According to the Harvard team, future searches for primordial black holes could be based on the new calculation.
“This method can detect or rule out black holes trapped in planetary mass at the edge of the Oort cloud, or around 100,000 astronomical units,” Siraj said.
“It may be able to set new limits on the fraction of dark matter contained in primordial black holes.”
The next LSST is expected to have the sensitivity necessary to detect accretion outbreaks, that is, light made from matter approaching the black hole.
“LSST has a wide field of view, covering the entire sky over and over again and looking for transient flares,” Loeb said.
What makes LSST different is that it can see the entire sky at once, which helps when you don’t know exactly where to look, as is the case with Planet Nine.
LSST’s ability to survey the sky twice a week is extremely valuable. Furthermore, its unprecedented depth will allow detection of flares resulting from relatively small impactors, which are more frequent than large ones, ” Siraj said.
The new document focuses on the famous Planet Nine as the first prime candidate for detection, as it could be anywhere in a very large sky.
This ‘planet’, sometimes called Planet X or Next Planet by people who still see Pluto as a complete planet, has been speculated for years.
Many theories suggest that Planet Nine is a previously undetected planet, but it may also point to the existence of a planetary-mass black hole.
“Planet Nine is a compelling explanation for the observed grouping of some objects beyond Neptune’s orbit,” said Siraj.
“If Planet Nine’s existence is confirmed through direct electromagnetic search, it will be the first detection of a new planet in the solar system in two centuries.”
The ‘Planet Nine’, a celestial object up to 10 times larger than Earth, may actually be a grapefruit-sized black hole, and a new telescope could help detect it. Artists impression
That’s if you don’t count Pluto or other large asteroids and dwarf planets.
He said that if they didn’t detect the light from Planet Nine as part of their search, it would increase the likelihood that it is a black hole.
“There has been a lot of speculation about alternative explanations for the anomalous orbits observed in the outer solar system,” Siraj said.
“One of the ideas put forward was the possibility that Planet Nine could be a grapefruit-sized black hole with a mass five to ten times that of Earth.”
The focus on Planet Nine is based as much on unprecedented scientific significance as a hypothetical discovery of a planetary-mass black hole in the solar system would have as on continued interest in understanding what’s out there.
‘The outskirts of the solar system is our backyard. Finding Planet Nine is like discovering a cousin who lives in the shed behind his house that he never found out about, ” Loeb said.
‘It immediately raises questions: why is it there? How did you get your properties? Did it shape the history of the solar system? Is there more like that?
Research is available for viewing on the arXiv prepress server.
PLANET NINE: OBJECT ORBITS BEYOND NEPTUNE SUGGESTS THAT ‘SOMETHING BIG’ IS
Astronomers believe that the orbits of various bodies in the far reaches of the solar system have been disrupted by the attraction of an as yet unidentified planet.
First proposed by a group at CalTech in the US, this alien world was theorized to explain the distorted paths seen in distant icy bodies.
To fit the data they have, this alien world, popularly called Planet Nine, would have to be about four times the size of Earth and ten times mass.
The researchers say that a body this size and mass would explain the clustered paths of several icy minor planets beyond Neptune.
First proposed by a group at CalTech in the US, this alien world was theorized to explain the distorted paths seen in distant icy bodies.
Its enormous orbit would mean that it takes 10,000 to 20,000 years to make a single turn around the sun.
Theoretical Planet Nine is based on the gravitational pull it exerts on these bodies, and astronomers are confident it will be found for years to come.
Those who await theoretical Earth-sized planets proposed by astrologers or science fiction writers, who ‘hide behind the sun’ and are tied to the Doomsday scenes, may have to keep looking.
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