Researchers claim to have discovered potential proof of a mysterious body orbiting past Neptune, which they have labelled as Planet Y.
The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), set to begin this fall at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, is poised to revolutionize our understanding of the outer solar system. According to a recent article in EOS Magazine, the LSST is expected to significantly increase the number of known Kuiper Belt objects, including potential planets like Planet Y.
The Kuiper Belt, a doughnut-shaped swath of space beginning just beyond the orbit of Neptune and extending to roughly 1,000 times the Earth-Sun distance, is home to untold numbers of icy, rocky objects. Everything in the Kuiper Belt can be thought of as cosmic debris, representing some of the leftovers from the formation of our solar system.
Over the past decade, scientists have hypothesized that something substantially larger than Pluto might be lurking in the Kuiper Belt. This unseen world is often referred to as Planet Nine or Planet X. Evidence of this unseen world lies in the fact that six Kuiper Belt objects share curiously similar orbital parameters and are associated in physical space.
If Planet Y exists, it is proposed to be a closer-in, lower-mass planet compared to Planet X. Researchers have suggested that a nearby, larger planet could have shepherded those worlds into alignment.
Kat Volk, a planetary scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Ariz., anticipates that the LSST will increase the number of known Kuiper Belt objects by a factor of 5-10. The simulated study suggests a planet 25-450 times more massive than Pluto with a semimajor axis in the range of 100-200 times the Earth-Sun distance as the most likely cause for the peculiar alignment of these six Kuiper Belt objects.
The researchers analyzed the orbital planes of more than 150 Kuiper Belt objects and found that their sample of Kuiper Belt objects formed a plane that was warped relative to that of the inner solar system at distances between 80 and 200 times the Earth-Sun distance. This warped plane had only a roughly 4% probability of being spurious, according to the researchers' calculations.
The LSST may potentially lead to the discovery of Planet Y itself or reveal the average orbital plane of the Kuiper Belt, shedding light on the necessity of invoking Planet Y. Siraj, a researcher involved in the project, expresses excitement about the start of the LSST and the potential it holds for transforming our understanding of the outer solar system.
While the researchers who discovered a possible new planet in the Kuiper Belt have not been named in the provided results, it's worth noting that a newly discovered quasi-moon near Earth was identified by astronomer Carlos de la Fuente Marcos. However, no data in the search results specify a new planet in the Kuiper Belt or its size.
In conclusion, the LSST is set to begin this fall, and its potential to revolutionize our understanding of the Kuiper Belt and the possibility of discovering Planet Y is a significant step forward in solar system research.
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