American scientists believe they may have discovered a new dwarf planet on the outskirts of the solar system while searching for the mysterious "Ninth Planet."
Icy rocks in the Kuiper Belt, beyond Neptune, tend to follow a clustered orbit in a particular direction.
Twenty years ago, astronomers suggested this phenomenon might be caused by the gravity of a ninth planet, perhaps ten times more massive than Earth, which remained elusive to all observations.
While searching for this mysterious world, whose existence is disputed by scientists, three American astronomers announced they had discovered what they believe to be a dwarf planet.
This object, dubbed 2017 OF201, has a diameter of about 700 kilometers, according to a preliminary study published last week that has yet to be reviewed by independent scientists.
OUF 201 is three times smaller than Pluto, but large enough to be classified as a dwarf planet, explained lead author Sihao Cheng of the Institute for Advanced Study in New Jersey, USA.
OUF 201 is currently three times as far from Earth as Neptune. But its highly elongated orbit takes it more than 1,600 times farther from Earth than the Sun, reaching the Oort Cloud, at the outer edge of the solar system.
During this 25,000-year journey, the object will only be visible from Earth for about 0.5 percent of the time, or about a century.
Noting that "it's fading more and more," Cheng said this discovery indicates that there may be "hundreds of similar objects in similar orbits" in the Kuiper Belt.
Researchers need time to direct the James Webb, Hubble, and ALMA telescopes toward their discovery.
Sam Dean, a 23-year-old amateur astronomer from California, was previously able to track OUF 201 using old databases. He described it to AFP as "one of the most exciting discoveries in the outer solar system in a decade."
After its discovery in 1930, Pluto was briefly designated the ninth planet in the solar system before being downgraded to a dwarf planet in 2006, largely due to its small size, as it is smaller than Earth's moon. The solar system, which includes Earth, includes four other dwarf planets: Ceres, Eris, Makemake, and Haumea.
When scientists modeled OUF 201's orbit, they discovered that it did not follow the common trend of similar objects in the Kuiper Belt, which could call into question the hypothesis of a ninth planet. Cheng emphasized the need for additional data.
Samantha Lawler, a researcher at the University of Regina in Canada, explained that "this amazing discovery" and similar discoveries mean that "the fundamental argument for Planet Nine is becoming progressively weaker."
"We are in an era where large telescopes can see almost to the far reaches of the universe," Cheng said, but much of what he called "our backyard garden" remains shrouded in mystery. He hopes to find answers about Planet Nine thanks to the Vera Rubin Observatory, which is expected to begin operating this year in Chile.
He predicted that "its existence will not remain in question for very long."
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