After Pluto deviated from the solar system, astronomers continue to search for the planet that would fill its void. The search for the ninth planet in the solar system is still an ongoing process. Yet, new research further boosts the evidence of Planet Nine.
"If you want to put a number on it, I'd be somewhere like 80 percent sure that there's a Planet X out there," stated Scott Sheppard, lead author of the study and an astronomer from the Carnegie Institution for Science in a report by Space.com. "I don't think it's a slam dunk; it's not 100 percent, because it's such low-number statistics. But there are a lot of strange things that seem to be going on that would be explained quite well with there being some kind of massive planet out there."
Sheppard and Chadwick Trujillo of the Northern Arizona University presented their study, which was published in the Astronomical Journal. Their study detailed their observations on a few trans-Neptunian objects that lie in close proximity with our solar system. The movements and location of these objects solidify studies that the ninth planet does exist.
"Objects found far beyond Neptune hold the key to unlocking our Solar System's origins and evolution. Though we believe there are thousands of these small objects, we haven't found very many of them yet, because they are so far away. The smaller objects can lead us to the much bigger planet we think exists out there. The more we discover, the better we will be able to understand what is going on in the outer Solar System," explained Sheppard.
Aside from the trans-Neptunian objects discovered, they also observed a dozen unknown bodies namely 2013 FE72, 2013 FT28, and 2014 SR349, which lie in the key orbital parameters.
"We have 15 or so of these extreme objects now, and all of them cluster in this argument of perihelion angle. I think statistics-wise, in the next year to two years we'll probably find enough of these small, extreme objects to really say if Planet X exists or not," concluded Sheppard.
Surveys of the sky are ongoing in proving the existence of Planet Nine.
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