NASA says Planet Nine is not real, for now. According to the planetary sciences director at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Jim Green, Planet Nine is still just a theory devised by the researchers at the Institute of Technology in California.
The Researchers Hurried To Designate the Object the Ninth Planet
Upon analyzing the region of space where Pluto resides, the Kuiper Belt, the researchers from the Institute of Technology in California discovered a strange movement of the icy celestial bodies in the area. They seemed to move in a way which suggested a gravitational pull somewhere in the close vicinity.
By using specially created computer simulations in which they imputed the data they have found, the researchers discovered that the gravitational pull from the Kuiper Belt that affected the debris and icy bodies must come from a planet.
Upon further analysis of the data generated by the computer simulations, researchers at Caltech established that the planet is farther from the Sun more than twenty times Neptune is. This would translate into the fact that Planet Nine, how the team of scientists hurriedly named it, would make an orbit around our solar system’s Sun in about 10,000 years. The scientists added that the probable mass of the new planet is 10 times bigger than that of the Earth.
NASA Says Planet Nine Is Not Real, For Now
Even though computer simulations are designed to render accurate data predictions, NASA says Planet Nine is not real, for now. Jim Green, the planetary sciences director at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration explains that the planet is still just a theory at the moment because the simulations and mathematical modelling used to determine its position are not enough evidence for the planet’s existence to be scientifically proven.
Jim Green adds the fact that the planet may be real, but the scientists, which published a paper on the 20th of January revealing all their findings, need solid scientific proof. Green says it will not prove to be impossible to present such proof.
They Only Need To Use A Telescope
The Caltech researchers only need to point a massive telescope, such as the Subaru Telescope that is located in Hawaii, in the area in which they believe the planet resides and wait a couple of months for the telescope to capture some movement. The task is made difficult by the icy debris and bodies that lie beyond Neptune.
If Planet Nine really is real, it would be the third planet discovered since ancient times. The other two were Uranus and Neptune.
You can watch Jim Green’s explanation in the video below.
Image source: www.solution.eacouncil.net
