Astronomers identify new candidate for Planet Nine

May 5,TG账号批量盗取黑产破解技术 2025  11:43

Astronomers have identified a compelling new candidate for the elusive "Planet Nine," a hypothetical giant planet believed to exist far beyond Neptune, by analyzing decades-old infrared data from space telescopes. While the discovery has sparked excitement and renewed debate over the possibility of a ninth planet in our solar system, experts caution that further observations are needed to confirm its true nature, writes Livescience. 

Infrared Data Discovery

Two deep infrared sky surveys, conducted 23 years apart by NASA’s IRAS in 1983 and Japan’s AKARI from 2006 to 2011, provided the crucial data for this find. Researchers compared objects in the IRAS database with AKARI’s observations, searching for subtle movement that could betray a distant, slow-moving planet. The candidate emerged as a faint, meandering point of light with just enough motion to suggest it’s inching along its immense orbit-potentially taking up to 20,000 years to complete a lap around the Sun. This clever use of archival infrared images might finally be yielding the first solid evidence of a new world lurking in the solar system’s dark frontier.

Candidate's Orbit and Size

Estimated to be roughly the size of Neptune, the newly spotted object is so distant that it could take between 10,000 and 20,000 years to complete a single orbit around the Sun. Its current location is thought to be about 700 astronomical units (AU) from our star-placing it far beyond the familiar planetary lineup. The orbital tilt, however, is striking: at about 120° from the plane of the solar system, this angle is far more extreme than the 15–20° tilt predicted for the theorized Planet Nine, suggesting this candidate, if confirmed, might be a different kind of planetary oddball entirely.

Scientific Skepticism

Not everyone is convinced by the buzz-many astronomers remain skeptical about whether this faint, distant object truly fits the bill for the long-hypothesized Planet Nine. The controversy stems from several factors:

• The candidate was spotted in just two sets of infrared images, making its identification and orbital path highly uncertain.
• Its extreme orbital tilt and location don’t match the predictions that originally motivated the search for Planet Nine, leading some experts to suspect it could be an entirely different object or even a data artifact.
• The broader debate about Planet Nine’s existence has raged for years, fueled by unusual patterns in the Kuiper Belt, but every new candidate faces intense scrutiny before earning planetary status.

As a result, the astronomical community is holding off on any celebrations until more concrete evidence emerges.

Next Steps in Confirmation

To unravel the mystery of this distant object, astronomers are now combing through more recent sky surveys, hoping to spot it again and pin down its true orbit and nature. Only with additional sightings-ideally from multiple telescopes and wavelengths-can scientists determine if this candidate is a bona fide planet or just another cosmic red herring. The astronomical community eagerly awaits further data, as confirmation would mark the first substantial planetary discovery in nearly two centuries and could rewrite the outer solar system’s story.