DWARF DISCOVERY COULD UNMASK A HIDDEN PLANET
A TEAM of astronomers have found a wayward dwarf planet, dubbed 2015 BP519.
It’s odd.
It’s a long way out – some 55 times further from the Sun than our Earth. Its orbit is extreme. Its inclined 54 degrees off the plane of the rest of the planets, which will eventually take it 450 times further out than our Earth.
But the gravity of Neptune really should be enough to have kept it in line with the rest of the Solar System.
The dwarf planet’s bizarre behaviour can only really be explained by the idea that there’s something big out there. Really big. And it is bullying smaller objects such as 2015 BP519 about.
“(We) find that 2015 BP519 adds to the circumstantial evidence for the existence of this proposed new member of the solar system,” the paper, which has been submitted to The Astronomical Journal, reads.
The dwarf planet is just another wanderer beyond the orbit of Neptune that hints to the existence of Planet Nine. In 2014, it was noticed the dwarf planet Sedna and other pieces of rubble were following unnatural paths. This led to the idea there may be a planetsized “shepherd” out there.
Astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin gave this ghost a name – Planet Nine – and estimated it could be 10 times the Earth’s weight.