Scientist has discovered a candidate for the ninth planet

Michael Rowan-Robinson, astronomer and professor of astrophysics at Imperial College London, discoveredMichael Rowan-Robinson. A search for Planet 9 in the IRAS data data indicating a potential candidate for the title of the ninth planet of the solar system. To do this, he analyzed observations made by the astronomical satellite IRAS, launched in 1983. It was the first orbiting observatory to observe the night sky in the infrared spectrum.

The professor decided to take a closer look at the data from the 10-month IRAS mission to see if other researchers had missed something. He paid close attention to objects that moved slowly between observations. This allowed him to exclude any fast moving bodies like comets and asteroids.

The astronomer examined hundreds of sources, but three observations made in June, July and September 1983 caught his attention most. Their analysis revealed a potential new planet that could be 3-5 times the size of Earth and orbit the Sun at a distance of about 225 times that of our home planet.

The researcher notes that the quality of observation results is not high enough to draw unambiguous conclusions. In addition, there are gas filaments in this area that form cirrus clouds, which makes it difficult to see. He also noted that a recent study using the Pan-STARRS telescopes in Hawaii did not detect the object.

Planetary scientist Mike Brown commented on research in a series of tweets: “This object is in an orbit completely incompatible with our predictions relative to the ninth planet, and will not be able to gravitationally disturb the distant solar system in ways that we offered. But this does not mean that this planet does not exist. "

So far, scientists need more data to draw more accurate conclusions. Rowan-Robinson recommended astronomers check the orbits of dwarf planets beyond Pluto. Such checks could explain the 1983 observations. Brown, in turn, noted that we can make many other discoveries in search of the ninth planet - exactly so the same as previously found Pluto in search of "planet X", about the existence of which in the XX century astronomer Percival spoke Lowell.