A search for Planet 9 in the IRAS data
https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.03831
For a lower mass planet (< 5 earth masses) in the distance range 200-400 AU, we expect a pair or triplet of single HCONs with separations 2-35 arcmin. Several hundred candidate associations are found and have been examined with Scanpi. A single candidate for Planet 9 survives which satisfies the requirements for detected and non-detected HCON passes. A fitted orbit suggest a distance of 225+-15 AU and a mass of 3-5 earth masses. Dynamical simulations are needed to explore whether the candidate is consistent with existing planet ephemerides. If so, a search in an annulus of radius 2.5-4 deg centred on the 1983 position at visible and near infrared wavelengths would be worthwhile.
Mysterious Object Glimpsed Decades Ago Might Have Actually Been Planet Nine
https://www.sciencealert.com/historical-data-reveals-what-may-be-a-decades-old-detection-of-planet-nine
.. analysis of data collected by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) in 1983, and found a trio of point sources that just might be Planet Nine.
.. it could be used to model where the planet might be now in order to conduct a more targeted search, in the quest to confirm or rule out its existence.
Astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin of Caltech found that small objects in the outer Solar System's Kuiper Belt were orbiting oddly, as though pushed into a pattern under the gravitational influence of something large.
This object is very far away, and quite small and cold and probably not reflecting much sunlight at all; and, moreover, we don't know exactly where in the very large sky it is. So the jury is out on whether it is real or not, and the topic is one of pretty intense and interesting debate.
However, if we interpret the candidate as real, we can extrapolate some information about Planet Nine. According to the IRAS data, it would be between three and five times the mass of Earth, at an orbital distance of around 225 astronomical units.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.03831
For a lower mass planet (< 5 earth masses) in the distance range 200-400 AU, we expect a pair or triplet of single HCONs with separations 2-35 arcmin. Several hundred candidate associations are found and have been examined with Scanpi. A single candidate for Planet 9 survives which satisfies the requirements for detected and non-detected HCON passes. A fitted orbit suggest a distance of 225+-15 AU and a mass of 3-5 earth masses. Dynamical simulations are needed to explore whether the candidate is consistent with existing planet ephemerides. If so, a search in an annulus of radius 2.5-4 deg centred on the 1983 position at visible and near infrared wavelengths would be worthwhile.
Mysterious Object Glimpsed Decades Ago Might Have Actually Been Planet Nine
https://www.sciencealert.com/historical-data-reveals-what-may-be-a-decades-old-detection-of-planet-nine
.. analysis of data collected by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) in 1983, and found a trio of point sources that just might be Planet Nine.
.. it could be used to model where the planet might be now in order to conduct a more targeted search, in the quest to confirm or rule out its existence.
Astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin of Caltech found that small objects in the outer Solar System's Kuiper Belt were orbiting oddly, as though pushed into a pattern under the gravitational influence of something large.
This object is very far away, and quite small and cold and probably not reflecting much sunlight at all; and, moreover, we don't know exactly where in the very large sky it is. So the jury is out on whether it is real or not, and the topic is one of pretty intense and interesting debate.
However, if we interpret the candidate as real, we can extrapolate some information about Planet Nine. According to the IRAS data, it would be between three and five times the mass of Earth, at an orbital distance of around 225 astronomical units.
