Planet 9 may have left the solar system billions of years ago

Research suspects the presence of an undiscovered planet in the solar system influencing Sedna's orbits. However, the search could now end in vain.

British Columbia – Astronomers searching for a planet that can't be found? The asteroid Sedna, located behind the Kuiper Belt, has puzzled astronomers since its discovery. Most of the distant objects in our solar system are affected by Neptune. The asteroid, which is likely a dwarf planet, does not come close to the planet. Therefore, it was assumed that a collision with a larger, unknown object must have put “Planet 9” Sedna into its orbit. Researchers have been looking for this – to no avail.

Doubts about the unknown “Planet 9” theory

Yukun Huang from the University of British Columbia in Canada doubts that the supposed “Planet Nine” can be found. high Results of his research This planet does not exist in our solar system, or at least it no longer exists. While it is clear that large objects determined the orbits of Sedna and two newly discovered “Sednoids,” they could have left the solar system 4.5 billion years ago.

The researcher tests his theory. If there is no undiscovered “Planet 9”, the orbits of the Sednoids should be stable for billions of years. They are close enough to the Sun not to be affected by galactic tides and at the same time far enough from the larger planets not to affect their orbits.

The computer simulation aims to provide clarity about the origin

Using computer simulations, Huang recreated the universe as it looked billions of years ago. Shortly after the birth of the solar system, the three Sednoids show strong similarities. Their perihelion, the point in their orbit closest to the sun, was all on the same longitude. Their apse lines, the line connecting perihelion, sun, and apogee, were also nearly identical.

Not “Planet 9”, but a single event responsible for Sedna's orbit?

All these similarities indicate that an event placed the celestial bodies in their orbits 4 billion years ago. He also notes that there has been no disturbance to their orbit since then. According to Huang's research, it is unlikely to find an undiscovered planet in our solar system responsible for the orbit of a cyanoid.