For years, astronomers have been hunting for the mysterious Planet 9, a giant hidden world lurking at the edge of our solar system. Scientists have noticed strange movements in the orbits of distant objects, suggesting something big is out there. Now, with advanced telescopes and AI-powered sky scans, we’re closer than ever to actually finding it! If Planet 9 exists, it could be several times the size of Earth and might even help explain weird cosmic mysteries. Imagine discovering a whole new planet right in our own backyard! Stay tuned—because the search is finally heating up! Credit:
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CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ :
Solar system: By aerospacenow, https://skfb.ly/o8GR8
Planet Beta Hydri: By Duael, https://skfb.ly/6WM7p
Pluto: PatelDev: By PatelDev, https://skfb.ly/6U8FR
The Star “Sun”: By ARCTIC WOLVES, https://skfb.ly/oTDVZ
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Asteroid Field: By Sereib, https://skfb.ly/oQGrp
Solar System: By shooogp, https://skfb.ly/YnDQ
laundry basket: By chanmagomed, https://skfb.ly/VDwD
Sock: By Espen Lindahl, https://skfb.ly/6Ez9v
Low Quality Soccer Stadium: By gluttonic, https://skfb.ly/6TOGG
Ceres v1.1: By uperesito, https://skfb.ly/6DuNu
Planet Eros: By Digital3dWorld, https://skfb.ly/6XVDJ
Proto Tierra: By the.hirrus, https://skfb.ly/onWKW
Vesta: By Reverse Imagineering, https://skfb.ly/6CTrF
Pallas: By YouAreCool8294, https://skfb.ly/pqu9z
ALMA and a Starry Night: By ESO/B. Tafreshi, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ALMA_and_a_Starry_Night.jpg
Small objects in the Solar System: By European Space Agency, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/ , https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Small_objects_in_the_Solar_System_ESA25188647.jpg
Konstantin Batygin by Christopher Michel: By Cmichel67, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ , https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Konstantin_Batygin_by_Christopher_Michel_in_2022_03.jpg
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FunTranscript
00:00Have you heard about Planet 9?
00:03No, not Pluto.
00:05We're talking about something lurking
00:07on the outskirts of the solar system.
00:10A mysterious planet that exists in our solar system
00:13that we haven't yet discovered.
00:16We've been looking for it for years.
00:19But finally, it seems like scientists found
00:22a key to solve this mystery.
00:25Planet 9 is a hypothetical planet.
00:28Astronomers have been on the hunt for it
00:30for quite some time now.
00:32But it's so elusive
00:34that they've only been able to piece together
00:36a few details about its potential characteristics.
00:40One thing we do know
00:42is that Planet 9 has to be a massive world.
00:45Possibly up to 10 times the mass of Earth.
00:49That's one big planet.
00:51It's also thought to be a distant wanderer
00:54hanging out somewhere between Neptune and Pluto.
00:58Some scientists think that Planet 9
01:00might actually be a mini-Neptune
01:03with a thick, gaseous atmosphere
01:05and a rocky core.
01:07Others speculate that it could be an icy world
01:10with a solid, frozen surface
01:13and a thick layer of hydrogen and helium gas.
01:17Of course, since we haven't actually found Planet 9 yet,
01:21we can't say for sure what it's like.
01:24We're not even sure that it even exists.
01:27Some say it's just a myth,
01:29like the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny.
01:31But others are convinced that it's out there somewhere.
01:35And at the end of the day,
01:37we're not entirely sure if Planet 9 is even a planet.
01:40It might be a special kind of black hole
01:43or made entirely of dark matter.
01:46The search for Planet 9 began in the early 21st century
01:50when a group of astronomers realized
01:52that something wasn't quite right
01:54with the outer reaches of our solar system.
01:57They noticed that some distant objects,
02:00known as trans-Neptunian objects,
02:02were behaving in unexpected ways.
02:05Trans-Neptunian objects, or TNOs,
02:08are like the cosmic version of those items
02:11in the back of your fridge that you forgot about for years.
02:14They're small, icy bodies
02:16that hang out in the Kuiper Belt,
02:18beyond Neptune.
02:20So, scientists noticed
02:22that these guys started behaving weirdly.
02:25At first, they thought it might be a fluke.
02:28But as they dug deeper,
02:30they began to suspect
02:32that there was a ninth planet lurking out there.
02:35Why haven't we discovered it yet, you ask?
02:38Well, it may be because of Planet 9's weird orbit.
02:42All the other eight planets orbit the Sun
02:45in roughly the same plane,
02:47which is like a flat disk.
02:49However, our hypothetical friend's orbit is different.
02:53It might be tilted
02:55and move in a different direction
02:57compared to the other planets.
02:59Its orbit might also be stretched out like an oval,
03:02rather than being nearly circular like usual.
03:05Because of this,
03:07Planet 9 might spend most of its time
03:10far from the Sun, like a true introvert.
03:13It only comes relatively close to the inner solar system
03:16every few thousand years.
03:18This would make it super faint
03:20and hard to spot.
03:22So the only way we may discover it
03:24is by studying the gravitational effect
03:26it has on our solar system.
03:30And this isn't the first time
03:32astronomers have gone looking for a new planet.
03:34Back in the 19th century,
03:36there was a similar hunt
03:38for a hypothetical Planet X.
03:40But this time,
03:42they were armed with much better technology
03:44and a much better sense of humor.
03:46They began calling their elusive quarry
03:48Planet 9,
03:50which was much catchier than Planet X.
03:52They even came up with a hashtag
03:54for the search,
03:56Pluto Lives.
03:58It was a reference to the fact
04:00that Pluto had been kicked from the planet gang
04:02and some astronomers were eager to find
04:04a new planet to take its place.
04:06But the search for Planet 9
04:08has been no easy task.
04:10It's like trying to find a lost sock
04:12in the laundry basket
04:14the size of a football stadium.
04:16It's so far away
04:18and so faint
04:20that even the most powerful telescopes
04:22can't see it.
04:24Instead, astronomers have had to rely
04:26on indirect evidence,
04:28like the strange orbits of TNOs,
04:30to try to figure out
04:32where it might be.
04:34Some scientists have even supposed
04:36that it might be a wandering rogue planet,
04:38which would explain
04:40why it's so hard to find.
04:42But they haven't given up hope.
04:44Till this day,
04:46they're scouring the skies
04:48using all sorts of high-tech telescopes
04:50and fancy algorithms
04:52to try and spot this elusive planet.
04:54And fear not,
04:56dear curious human,
04:58because it looks like after so many years
05:00of research,
05:02we may have finally found the key
05:04to solve this mystery.
05:06Astronomer Man Ho Chan
05:08has a theory.
05:10He believes that Planet 9
05:12could have a bevy of moons.
05:14That's right.
05:16Not only is it a giant planet
05:18hiding out in the depths of space,
05:20but it's also a bit of a hoarder.
05:22Moons are all the rage
05:24in the outer solar system.
05:26In fact, almost every planet here
05:28has at least one moon,
05:30except for Mercury and Venus.
05:32Earth has just one,
05:34which is kind of sad if you think about it.
05:36Non-planetary bodies like Pluto
05:38have at least a couple of moons.
05:40A bit unfair, isn't it?
05:42Anyway, taking this into account,
05:44let's go moon picking with Planet 9.
05:46The region between
05:48the rock-filled Kuiper Belt
05:50and the rock-filled Oort Cloud,
05:52where this planet is predicted to be,
05:54should be ripe for the picking.
05:56Chan made some calculations
05:58and determined that it would be stranger
06:00if the elusive planet didn't have
06:02any satellites.
06:04According to his calculations,
06:06an object the mass of Planet 9
06:08should capture at least 20 TNOs
06:10as large as almost
06:1290 miles across.
06:14It's like our mysterious planet
06:16is playing cosmic Pokemon with these guys.
06:18So, what if Planet 9
06:20has moons?
06:22Would that make any difference?
06:24Kinda, yes.
06:26They could give us some indirect clues
06:28to finally locate this mysterious planet.
06:30Now, you might be thinking,
06:32how in the cosmos
06:34can we possibly spot these teeny tiny moons?
06:36It's not like they're going
06:38to wave a giant flag
06:40or blast some Beyonce tunes to get our attention.
06:42Well, apparently,
06:44the key lies in something called
06:46tidal heating.
06:48Tidal heating might sound like
06:50a new workout trend,
06:52but it's a real scientific phenomenon.
06:54It happens when two celestial bodies
06:56are close together.
06:58You see, tides aren't just about
07:00the rise and fall of the ocean,
07:02they're also the result of gravity
07:04pulling unevenly on a planet or moon.
07:06When a planet and a moon
07:08are close enough to each other,
07:10their gravity pulls on each other,
07:12creating a bit of a football shape.
07:14And as these celestial bodies
07:16move around each other,
07:18they shift shape and generate friction inside,
07:20which produces heat.
07:24Wow, who knew that Planet 9
07:26could have a workout routine?
07:28Perhaps we should start calling it
07:30Gym Planet instead.
07:32Anyway,
07:34if Planet 9 has any moons,
07:36the gravitational pull from these moons
07:38would cause it to change shape constantly,
07:40generating heat in the process.
07:42And we might be able
07:44to detect this mysterious planet
07:46through the heat produced by those moons,
07:48even though it gives off
07:50no other signals.
07:52Now, before you get too excited,
07:54finding them won't be a walk in the park.
07:56They're incredibly small
07:58and would be very far away from us.
08:00But hey, nothing worth discovering
08:02ever came easy, right?
08:04Scientists are optimistic
08:06that with the right technology,
08:08they can spot this telltale sign.
08:10It will be easier for us
08:12to spot them with fancy instruments
08:14like modern telescopes.
08:16Talk about cool friends to have, right?
08:18Sure, the process of finding it
08:20may be difficult and time-consuming,
08:22but the potential payoff
08:24is huge.
08:26Finding this planet could explain
08:28a lot of the strange behavior observed
08:30in TNOs, the Kuiper Belt,
08:32and beyond.
08:34As we've already mentioned,
08:36they've been acting super weird lately,
08:38tilting and aligning in suspicious ways.
08:40If this planet doesn't
08:42actually exist,
08:44we have yet to explain
08:46what is the reason for this strange behavior.
08:48In any case,
08:50the search for Planet 9
08:52is one of the most exciting and intriguing quests
08:54in modern astronomy.
08:56It's like a cosmic scavenger hunt,
08:58and everyone's invited to join in on the fun.
09:00So, grab your telescopes
09:02and let's go planet hunting.
09:04Who knows, maybe we'll find it
09:06sooner than we think.
09:08That's it for today.
09:10So hey, if you pacified your curiosity,
09:12then give the video a like
09:14and share it with your friends.
09:16Or if you want more, just click on these videos
09:18and stay on the Bright Side!