"She's huge"
The discoverer of the ninth planet of the solar system about a new cosmic body
Photo: R. Hurt / Infrared Processing and Analysis Center / Courtesy of California Institute of Technology / AP
On the discovery of the ninth planet solar system two astronomers from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena became aware on January 20. One of them - a native of Russia Konstantin Batygin - told Lente.ru about the search for Planet X, the difficulties with the name of a new celestial body and the unsolved mysteries of the solar system.
"Lenta.ru": What is the planet you discovered?
: It does not fall into the category of dwarf planets. This heavenly body quite massive. Our model gives a mass of about ten Earth's, this planet is simply gigantic. It is now defined as a celestial object whose gravitational field dominates that part of the solar system.
In general, there is not even a question: is it a planet or not. We know about it because its gravity affects the orbits of distant objects in the Kuiper Belt. The very mathematical modeling relies on this planet having enough mass to dominate the solar system gravitationally.
What about its physical properties?
Calculations, unfortunately, give us only the mass and General characteristics. We can only assume that it is similar in chemical composition to Uranus or Neptune. More precisely, we will say something when a device like New Horizons is sent to the planet. Although the flight is far, and it will take a very long time to wait.
Where did Planet X come from?
We believe that it formed in the first three million years of the solar system, that is, about 4.5 billion years ago, from about the same material as Uranus and Neptune. While the solar system was still shrouded in a gas cloud, this planet was gravitationally scattered into a longer orbit.
Were you guided by Chadwick Trujillo and Scott Sheppard's observations of trans-Neptunian object 2012 VP113 in 2004?
We relied on their work. What they found is called the perihelion argument of many orbits in the Kuiper belt. It turns out that this is only part of the story. The reality is an order of magnitude simpler and more fundamental: further orbits in the Kuiper belt look in approximately the same direction. Their physical orbits are almost the same. And it was this fundamental moment that led to the fact that we were able to calculate the orbit of "Planet 9".
Image: NASA / JPL-CALTECH
How fast do you hope to find a planet with the Subaru telescope? Your colleagues, such as Professor Hal Levison, are looking forward to direct observations.
In principle, we get results from one night of observations fairly quickly. The problem is that you need a lot of nights: you need to examine a fairly large part of the sky. So I think if we integrate, we have to spend two or three years to find the planet that we predicted.
Does this planet have moons?
We think so. My colleagues and I agree that there are no reasons that would prevent this. Can they be seen with a telescope? Maybe. But it's difficult...
Have you thought about what to name the new planet?
Mike Brown and I (Mike Brown, co-author of Konstantin Batygin - approx. "Tapes.ru") we believe that it is better to entrust the world community. It's not for the two of us to decide. Again, we have not thought about this yet: we have a theoretical model, but the planet has not been found astronomically.
Could there be other planets in the solar system?
I guess, yes. There is nothing that contradicts such a possibility. But at the moment we do not have any data indicating that, in addition to the ninth planet, there is something else.
When will observational astronomy put an end to this story?
Good question. By the middle of the 20th century, it seemed that observational astronomy had completed its work in the solar system. It turned out that this was not the case.
In principle, the solar system is huge, the gravitational field of the Sun dominates very far: the dominant ends somewhere after a hundred thousand astronomical units, and we see small objects in the Kuiper belt at a distance of a maximum of eighty astronomical units. There is still a huge area unknown.
Three major telescopes are being built on Earth at once: the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). Will they be useful in such research?
The projects you mentioned are certainly important. However, to search for planets like ours, telescopes like Subaru, whose camera is made to cover most of the sky, are more suitable. The same TMT will be good for characterization and bad for search.
What if the discovery of the ninth planet is not confirmed?
The most dramatic precedent is the discovery of Neptune in 1846 by Urban Le Verrier, who used mathematical models similar to those we have today. But our model is an order of magnitude more detailed and complex: it uses supercomputers.
And Le Verrier's calculations were confirmed in one night of observations.
Do you maintain contacts with Russian colleagues?
I lived in Russia until 1994, after which I moved with my family to Japan and then to the USA. I am mainly a theorist, sometimes I communicate by e-mail with colleagues from Russia and Russians working in the US and other countries.
I don't read Russian media because I don't have enough time. I try to do only science. I can say that Russia remains strong in theoretical science: there are many good scientists. The story of Mikhail Lidov comes to mind, who in the 1950s calculated the effect now called the Lidov-Kozai resonance. People did not understand for a long time how important this effect is. Lidov was decades ahead of mankind, and there are still such scientists in Russia.
A new planet has been discovered in the solar system. This discovery was made by a California astrophysicist technical university Konstantin Batygin. The author of the sensation admits that no one was specifically looking for the ninth planet. The discovery, which is destined to become the main thing in astronomy for two and a half centuries, as often happens, was made by accident.
The strange anomaly that led scientists to the discovery of the ninth planet
Konstantin was approached by his colleague, an astronomer from California, Michael Brown. He asked the astrophysicist to make calculations that would explain why some objects in the solar system behave in a strange way. It was about the Kuiper belt. This is the region farthest from the Sun. There is space debris left after: small asteroids, blocks of ice, star dust. It is from there that many comets come from that plow our system. Astronomers around the world have been following the Kuiper belt very closely for a long time, but only now an important discovery has been made.
If you examine the Kuiper belt, then this is a field of icy debris outside the orbit of Neptune. Most of them walk in very eccentric and elongated orbits, conditionally randomly oriented in space. But if you concentrate on the most distant orbits, those that are farthest away from the Sun at , you can see that they are all oriented in approximately the same direction and lie in approximately the same plane. It was this orbital alignment that seemed anomalous to scientists.
It was this anomaly that Konstantin Batygin was asked to explain from a mathematical point of view. The astrophysicist suggested that objects in the Kuiper belt are guided by an unknown large cosmic body. This gave astronomers their first clue in centuries. The atlas of the solar system, familiar to everyone, is incomplete. There must be another planet, and it's gigantic.
According to the new model, the ninth planet has a mass equal to ten or twenty Earth masses, that is, it is comparable in principle to Uranus and Neptune. Knowing only the mass, it is impossible to accurately judge its composition. However, one can compare it with other planets and assume that the ninth planet was formed from the same materials as other planets with a similar mass.
After analyzing the data on the mass and size of the ninth planet, Konstantin Batygin suggested that, most likely, this is a gas giant, exactly the same as Uranus and Neptune.
Sumerian reference to the ninth planet
The mention that in the solar system there is a planet with an irregular orbit, different from all the others, is found among the ancient Sumerians. It was called Nibiru. The planet Nibiru, judging by the legends of the Sumerians, entered the solar system at a fairly high speed. She moved along an elongated epileptic orbit, moving away from the Sun at a considerable distance, then returning. The circulation period was 3600 years. So it follows from the chronicle of the Sumerians.
Sumerian history is carved on clay tablets that are almost 6,000 years old. It follows from them that once, on the territory of Mesopotamia, a highly developed civilization suddenly arose. The Sumerians had very detailed knowledge of the cosmos. They believed that Nibiru was not a lifeless planet. It was inhabited by creatures similar to people - the Anunnaki. They arrived on Earth to. According to one version, the aliens needed the precious metal to save their planet, which was rapidly losing its atmosphere. Gold was crushed, turning it into virtually dust, and this allowed heat and light to linger on Nibiru, preserving the conditions for life.
For hundreds of thousands of years, the Anunnaki developed the deposits on their own, but then, as the Sumerian chronicles tell, there was an uprising of workers. The work was too hard. I had to. But the anthropoid apes that then lived on the planet were too primitive even for such work. According to myths, the Anunnaki went to. By mixing the DNA of earthlings and their own, they got a completely new look. They created more so that a person could do more difficult work than a monkey.
On Sumerian clay tablets, this process is depicted as two snakes intertwined. This symbol is very reminiscent of, and maybe this Sumerian myth explains one of the biggest historical mysteries. Why still can not find an intermediate link between the monkey and modern man. If you believe the ancients, then it simply cannot be. and ape are actually genetically distant from each other.
After all, even on our own planet, we find life in the most unexpected places and types. In the ocean at a depth of thousands of meters live creatures that can withstand tremendous pressure. And recently, scientists from Princeton University discovered that underground, at a depth of almost three kilometers, life is teeming. Bacteria live there, which use uranium ore as. If we record such amazing phenomena on earth, then what can we say about deep space? On the ninth planet? There, for example, it does not have to be an atmosphere, or it can be liquid, or so dense that the pressure there will exceed all conceivable limits.
When it comes to, first of all, we mean intelligent life. Who said that all beings in the universe, endowed with intelligence, must necessarily be like us?
Our science under the word life understands only the protein-nucleic form, the main "highlight" in which is the cell. If this cell does not exist, then there is no life. But it is another matter if by life we understand something else. For example, Tsiolkovsky spoke about a radiant person. What it is? Reasonable, consisting of some kind of energy formations?
Perhaps someday we will be able to unravel these amazing mysteries of the universe, or perhaps we will never be allowed to do this ...
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Michael Brown specializes in finding distant objects
Caltech scientists Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin have provided evidence for the existence of a giant planet in the solar system, located even further from the Sun than Pluto.
The researchers reported that they have not yet been able to see it through a telescope. According to them, the planet was discovered when studying the movement of small celestial bodies in deep space.
The mass of the celestial body is about 10 times the mass of the Earth, but scientists have yet to verify its existence.
Institute astronomers have only a rough idea of where the planet might be in the starry sky, and no doubt their suggestion will launch a campaign to find it.
"There are many telescopes on Earth theoretically capable of finding it. I really hope that now, after our announcement, people around the world will start looking for the ninth planet," said Michael Brown.
Elliptical orbit
According to scientists, space object is about 20 times farther from the Sun than Neptune, which is 4.5 billion km away.
Unlike the almost circular orbits of other planets in the Solar System, this object is supposed to move in an elliptical orbit, and a complete revolution around the Sun takes from 10 thousand to 20 thousand years.
Scientists have studied the movement of objects consisting mainly of ice in the Kuiper Belt. Pluto is in this belt.
The researchers noticed a certain location of some bodies in the Belt, in particular such large objects as Sedna and 2012 VP113. In their opinion, this can only be explained by the presence of an unknown large space object.
Image copyright AFP Image caption The idea of the existence of the so-called Planet X, located on the periphery of the solar system, has been discussed in scientific circles for more than 100 years."All the most distant objects move in the same direction on an inexplicable trajectory, and we realized that the only explanation for this is the existence of a large, distant planet that holds them together as they orbit the Sun," Brown said.
Planet X
The idea of the existence of the so-called Planet X, located on the periphery of the solar system, has been discussed in scientific circles for more than 100 years. She is remembered and then forgotten.
The current speculation is of particular interest because of the study's lead author.
Brown specializes in finding distant objects, and it was his discovery of the dwarf planet Eris in the Kuiper Belt in 2005 that caused Pluto to lose planetary status a year later.
Then it was assumed that Eris is slightly larger than Pluto, but now it has become clear that it is slightly smaller than it.
Researchers studying distant objects in the solar system have been speculating for some time on the possibility of a planet the size of Mars or Earth due to the size and shape of the planets in the Kuiper Belt. But until you can see the planet through a telescope, the idea of its existence will be perceived with skepticism.
The study by Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin was published in the Astronomical Journal.
Astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena on the discovery of a candidate for the ninth planet of the solar system outside the orbit of Pluto. The find may become one of the most sensational in the current decade, comparable to the discovery of a new continent on Earth. The results of the search for Planet X, the authors published in The Astronomical Journal. Science News and Nature News briefly talk about them.
What was discovered
Planet X is an object the size of Neptune and ten times the mass of the Earth. The celestial body revolves around the Sun along a strongly elongated and inclined to earth orbit with a period of 15 thousand years. The closest distance between the Sun and Planet X is 200 astronomical units (that's seven times the distance between Neptune and the star), and the maximum is estimated at 600-1200 astronomical units. This brings the object's orbit out of the Kuiper Belt, where Pluto is located, towards the Oort cloud.
Why the ninth planet
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) definition of a planet applies only to celestial bodies in the solar system. According to it, a rounded massive body is considered a planet, having cleared the vicinity of its orbit from a large number of smaller bodies. The IAU officially recognizes the existence of five dwarf planets. One of them (Ceres) is located in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, others (Pluto, Eris, Makemake and Haumea) are beyond the orbit of Neptune. The largest of them is Pluto.
In total, there are eight planets in the solar system, according to the IAU. The largest and most massive of them is Jupiter. Pluto, by decision of the IAU in 2006, ceased to be considered a planet, since it does not meet one of the criteria that determines it (the dominance of its orbit in space). So far, astronomers have discovered more than 40 dwarf planet candidates. Scientists estimate that there may be more than two thousand dwarf planets in the solar system, of which 200 are located within the Kuiper belt (at a distance of 30 to 55 astronomical units from the Sun). The rest are outside of it.
The definition of a planet as a dwarf one is controversial among scientists. In particular, the dimensions of the celestial body can play a decisive role in this case. Planet X, being the fifth in mass and size of the celestial body of the solar system known to science, certainly cannot be considered a dwarf. The unusual orbit and origin of Planet X may lead to a revision of the IAU definition of a dwarf planet.
Image: NASA / JPL-CALTECH
How they opened
The existence of Planet X was suspected in 2014. Then Chadwick Trujillo from the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and Scott Sheppard from the Carnegie Institution in Washington published an article in Nature, where they reported the discovery at a distance of 80 astronomical units (Pluto is 48 astronomical units from the Sun) from the Sun of the trans-Neptunian object 2012 VP113. In their work, astronomers also suggested that at a distance of 250 astronomical units from the star there is a planet larger than the Earth.
Observer astronomer Brown and computer astronomy expert Batygin decided to refute Trujillo and Sheppard's data. But it turned out differently. new planet scientists discovered by analyzing data on its gravitational effect on other celestial bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. Among them, in particular, is the candidate for the dwarf planet Sedna discovered in 2003 by Brown, Trujillo and David Rabinowitz. Computer modeling and theoretical calculations by Brown and Batygin explain the results of observations by the existence of Planet X. Astronomers estimate the probability of error in their conclusions at 0.007 percent.
How Planet X Came to Be
Astronomers cannot yet give an exact answer to the question of the origin of Planet X. They tend to the following hypothesis. At the dawn of the existence of the solar system, there were five large protoplanets, four of which formed modern Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. However, about three million years after their birth, the gravity of the first two celestial bodies threw Protoplanet X out of the orbit of Neptune.
Structure and composition of Planet X
The origin of Planet X suggests that it was originally similar to the ice giants Uranus and Neptune. The latter is 17 times heavier than the Earth, and its diameter is four times greater than that of the Blue Planet. Uranus and Neptune are classified as ice giants. Their atmosphere consists of gases (hydrogen, helium and hydrocarbons) and ice particles (water, ammonia and methane). Under the atmosphere of the giants is a mantle of water, ammonia and methane ice, under which lies a solid core of metals, silicates and ice. Planet X may have a similar core and mantle without a dense atmosphere.
Criticism
The celestial mechanic Alessandro Morbidelli from Nice acted as a referent for the work of scientists in The Astronomical Journal. He was optimistic about the chances of the discovery of Planet X by astronomers Brown and Batygin. Not in last turn- thanks to the authority of scientists. Planetary scientist Hal Levison from Colorado was skeptical about the work of colleagues, citing the haste of Brown and Batygin's conclusions and the need for further verification. As the discoverers of Planet X themselves note, astronomers will believe in their discovery only when they can observe the planet through a telescope.
What's next
To detect Planet X, astronomers have booked time at Japan's Subaru Observatory in Hawaii. Trujillo and Sheppard will compete in the search for the planet with scientists. Confirmation of the existence of a celestial body can take up to five years. If discovered, the object could become the ninth planet in the solar system. Earlier searches for Planet X in the solar system led scientists to discover Neptune (in 1864) and Pluto (in 1930). There is little doubt that the existence of a ninth planet will be confirmed.
MOSCOW, January 21 - RIA Novosti. Konstantin Batygin, who discovered at the "tip of the pen" the ninth planet, located 274 times farther from the Sun than the Earth, believes that it is the last real planet in the solar system, the press service of the California Institute of Technology reports.
Last night, Russian astronomer Konstantin Batygin and his American colleague Michael Brown announced that they were able to calculate the position of the mysterious "planet X" - the ninth, or tenth, if you count Pluto, the planet of the solar system, 41 billion kilometers away from the Sun and weighing 10 times larger than Earth.
“Although we were initially quite skeptical, when we found hints of the existence of another planet in the Kuiper belt, we continued to study its proposed orbit. Over time, we became more and more confident that it really exists. For the first time in the last 150 years, we have real evidence that we have completely completed the "census" of the planets of the solar system, "said Batygin, whose words are quoted by the press service of the magazine.
This discovery, according to Batygin and Brown, was largely due to the discovery of two other ultra-distant "inhabitants" of the solar system - dwarf planets 2012 VP113 and V774104, comparable in size to Pluto and removed from the Sun by about 12-15 billion kilometers.
Both of these planets were discovered by Chad Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory in the Hawaiian Islands (USA), a student of Brown, who, after their discovery, shared with his teacher and Batygin his observations, indicating oddities in the movement of "Biden", as 2012 VP113 was called , and a number of other Kuiper objects.
Astronomers have announced the discovery of another contender for the title of the most distant inhabitant of the solar system - the dwarf planet V774104 with a diameter of 500-1000 kilometers, located 15 billion kilometers from the Sun.An analysis of the orbits of these objects showed that some large celestial body acts on them all, forcing the orbits of these small dwarf planets and asteroids to stretch in a certain direction, the same for at least six objects from the list presented by Trujillo. In addition, the orbits of these objects were inclined to the plane of the ecliptic at the same angle - approximately 30%.
Such a "coincidence," scientists explain, is like clockwork moving at different speeds pointing to the same minute every time you look at it. The probability of such an outcome of events is 0.007%, which indicates that the orbits of the "inhabitants" of the Kuiper belt were not extended by chance - they were "conducted" by some large planet located far beyond the orbit of Pluto.
Batygin's calculations show that this is definitely a "real" planet - its mass is 5 thousand times greater than that of Pluto, which most likely means that it is a gas giant like Neptune. A year on it lasts about 15 thousand years.
It rotates in an unusual orbit - its perihelion, the point of closest approach to the Sun, is located on the "side" of the solar system, where the aphelion is located - the point of maximum removal - for all other planets.
Such an orbit paradoxically stabilizes the Kuiper belt, preventing its objects from colliding with each other. So far, astronomers have not been able to see this planet because of its remoteness from the Sun, but Batygin and Brown believe that this will be possible in the next 5 years, when its orbit will be calculated more accurately.
