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Beyond Neptune are some fascinating bodies left over from the formation of our solar system. Could one of them be truly spectacular?
This image shows an illustration of the hypothetical Planet Nine: a planet thought to be more massive than Earth but hundreds of times farther from the Sun than our own world.
Key things
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It’s been about 10 years since astronomers noticed a strange behavior in several objects in the outer solar system that seemed to point to a large gravitational mass very far away: a possible Planet Nine.
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Since then, much more data has been collected and much research has been done, both direct and indirect, to find evidence to either support or disprove the existence of Planet Nine.
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Today, although several prominent astronomers still argue for its existence, the entire Kuiper Belt data set (and beyond) no longer requires Planet Nine. Meanwhile, the search is complicated by a new addition: a mega-constellation of satellites. Listen and find out more.
One of the most quickly forgotten revolutions in all of science is our understanding of the solar system beyond Neptune. Although Pluto was discovered almost a century ago, it was not until the early 1990s that we discovered another object beyond Neptune that was also not part of the Plutonian system. And yet, in the 30 short years since then, we’ve learned much more about the structure of the Kuiper Belt and beyond, but we also face enormous challenges in learning more thanks to an unwelcome intruder: the rise of satellite megaconstellations.
Although the original team of Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin continues to argue for a new, massive, undiscovered world located at a hundred times the Earth-Sun distance, it is largely alone as other scientists have considered and see no evidence for. hypothetical world. However, more science needs to be done to know for sure, and in the meantime, the rise of satellite megaconstellations like Starlink now pose an existential threat to all kinds of endeavors, including planetary astronomy.
To take you through the current state of the hunt for Planet Nine, as well as the new hurdles astronomers are facing, I’m very pleased to welcome Professor Sam Lawler to the show. Sam is a professor at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada and is also known for her work promoting dark and silent skies for all of humanity to enjoy and benefit from. It’s a fascinating discussion that took me to unexpected places, and I think you’ll enjoy it a lot!
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