Two astronomers at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid claim to have found evidence of the existence of the mysterious Planet Nine or X: a hypothetical planet hidden beyond the orbit of Pluto whose existence is debated by scientists, reports Sinc.
In 2016, a study announced the existence of this planet based on the peculiar distribution of transneptunian object orbits (TNO) located in the Kuiper belt. Then, it was believed that it was precisely Planet Nine that disturbed their orbits. However, biases were later detected in these observations that cast doubt on the conclusions of this study.
Now, he points out, Spanish astronomers have resorted to a more novel technique and less exposed to biases to observe so-called transneptunian objects (ETNOs): a special class of celestial bodies that never cross the orbit of Neptune and are particularly far from the Sun .
The researchers analyzed the distribution of their nodes - the points in orbit where ETNO crosses the plane of the Solar System - to find that some of them are sometimes grouped in orbit. Also, a correlation between the positions of the nodes and their inclination was detected, although none should exist.
"Assuming that ETNOs are dynamically analogous to comets that interact with Jupiter, we interpret these results as indicative of the presence of a planet that is interacting actively with them in a range of distances between 300 and 400 AU," said the researcher Carlos de la Fuente Marcos. He added, this finding "can not be attributed to the presence of observational biases".