A portion of space explorers have long speculated that an unseen ‘Planet Nine’ exists at the edge of our solar system. Now scientists have denied the possibility of its existence and called the Planet Nine “an illusion”.
According to astronauts, Planet Nine can be up to ten times larger than Earth and 400 times farther from the Sun compared to Earth, reports Dailymail.
However, University of Michigan scientists believe that the evidence for Planet Nine may be incorrect. The researchers concluded that the unusual orbits previously used to predict its existence may be an illusion.
The study, conducted by scientist Kevin Napier and his team, found that humans did not erroneously conclude that a small number of rocks are a giant planet, but not in orbit in space.
The researchers analyzed the orbits of 14 space bricks, which were not included in the previous research. Some rocks – extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs) – have a clear orbit, which has led some scientists to believe there is a planet out there.
In 2016, space science professor Konstantin Batygin and his colleagues published an article predicting the existence of Planet Nine. New space rocks found since that time have apparently confirmed their conclusions, Yahoomail reports.
The University of Michigan team said there is a significant variety of prejudice due to the way ETNOs are found. The researchers wrote in their paper: “Because ETNOs follow many elliptical orbits, and their brightness decreases like 1 / r4, they are almost always discovered within a few decades of the perihelion.”
“In addition, telescopic surveys observe a limited area in the air at certain times of the year to a limited depth. These effects have a significant selection bias.”
To analyze the results of three previous surveys, the researchers mimicked detections of a larger population of space rock. They wrote: ‘In essence, a survey simulator simulates detection of a model population of solar system bodies using the survey history, depth and detection criteria of a survey.
“It allows for the calculation of the selection function of a survey for a given population, which enables us to justify prejudice, and thus understand the true underlying populations.”
Instead of suggesting the existence of a large rocky planet, the new results suggest that there is nothing at all. The researchers said they “therefore conclude that this sample provides no evidence for angular clustering”.
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