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| · | Introduction |
| 0:02 | · | for years scientists have speculated |
| 0:04 | · | that something massive lurks in the |
| 0:06 | · | outer reaches of our solar system This |
| 0:09 | · | hypothetical world Planet 9 could |
| 0:12 | · | explain puzzling gravitational effects |
| 0:14 | · | observed among distant celestial bodies |
| 0:17 | · | But despite decades of searching no one |
| 0:20 | · | has been able to find it Now a new study |
| 0:23 | · | led by Terry Long Fawn has uncovered a |
| 0:26 | · | possible candidate Using infrared data |
| 0:29 | · | from two space telescopes taken decades |
| 0:32 | · | apart the team may have spotted |
| 0:34 | · | something slowly creeping through the |
| 0:36 | · | cold dark edges of our cosmic |
| 0:38 | · | neighborhood In this video we'll explore |
| 0:41 | · | the evidence the science behind the |
| 0:43 | · | discovery and what it could mean for the |
| 0:46 | · | future of planetary astronomy |
| · | The Case for Planet Nine – Why Astronomers Are Still Looking |
| 0:52 | · | The renewed interest in Planet 9 began |
| 0:54 | · | in 2016 when astronomers Constantine |
| 0:57 | · | Bedigan and Mike Brown analyze the |
| 1:00 | · | orbits of several trans neptunian |
| 1:02 | · | objects TNOs's These small icy worlds |
| 1:06 | · | orbit far beyond Neptune and showed a |
| 1:09 | · | strange clustering in their orbital |
| 1:11 | · | elements particularly their arguments of |
| 1:13 | · | perihelion and longitude of ascending |
| 1:15 | · | node This kind of alignment is |
| 1:18 | · | statistically unlikely unless something |
| 1:20 | · | massive is shaping their paths The best |
| 1:22 | · | explanation is a large planet between |
| 1:25 | · | five and 10 times Earth's mass on a wide |
| 1:27 | · | eccentric orbit ranging from 400 to 800 |
| 1:31 | · | astronomical units AU At these distances |
| 1:35 | · | orbital periods stretch into tens of |
| 1:37 | · | thousands of years and any gravitational |
| 1:40 | · | influence from known planets becomes |
| 1:42 | · | negligible Yet such an object could |
| 1:44 | · | shepherd TNO's into aligned orbits |
| 1:47 | · | through a process known as mean motion |
| 1:49 | · | resonance or secular perturbation |
| 1:53 | · | Detecting planet 9 is a technical |
| 1:55 | · | challenge At 800 astronomical units |
| 1:58 | · | sunlight is about |
| 2:00 | · | 0.01% as strong as it is on Earth making |
| 2:04 | · | reflected light incredibly faint Even |
| 2:07 | · | large objects at that distance would |
| 2:08 | · | fall below the sensitivity of many |
| 2:10 | · | optical surveys Infrared detection |
| 2:13 | · | becomes a more viable option since |
| 2:14 | · | massive planets emit residual heat from |
| 2:17 | · | formation Detectable in far infrared |
| 2:20 | · | wavelengths even after billions of years |
| 2:23 | · | That's why Fan and his team didn't just |
| 2:25 | · | look harder they looked smarter They |
| 2:27 | · | searched existing infrared data for |
| 2:29 | · | signatures of slow faint movement An |
| 2:32 | · | approach that takes advantage of how |
| 2:34 | · | distant bodies behave over long |
| 2:36 | · | baselines |
| · | A New Clue Emerges – How IRAS and AKARI Data Revived the Hunt |
| 2:42 | · | The team's approach centered on two |
| 2:44 | · | infrared |
| 2:45 | · | observatories Iris infrared astronomical |
| 2:49 | · | satellite from 1983 and Accari a |
| 2:52 | · | Japanese mission that scanned the sky in |
| 2:54 | · | the 2000s Both satellites captured full |
| 2:58 | · | sky infrared data ideal for detecting |
| 3:01 | · | cold distant objects What made their |
| 3:04 | · | work special was the time gap 23 years |
| 3:07 | · | between the two missions giving |
| 3:09 | · | astronomers a long baseline to detect |
| 3:12 | · | motion in the far solar system Infrared |
| 3:15 | · | detection works differently from optical |
| 3:17 | · | imaging Cold objects like icy planets or |
| 3:21 | · | brown dwarfs emit most of their energy |
| 3:23 | · | in the infrared spectrum Instead of |
| 3:26 | · | relying on sunlight reflecting off the |
| 3:28 | · | surface telescopes like Iris and Accari |
| 3:32 | · | pick up the thermal radiation |
| 3:34 | · | essentially the object's own glow Fans |
| 3:36 | · | team used Accari's monthly unconfirmed |
| 3:39 | · | source list Musul which includes |
| 3:42 | · | transient signals seen in short windows |
| 3:45 | · | Objects moving slowly wouldn't be seen |
| 3:47 | · | in the same place again making this data |
| 3:49 | · | set ideal for tracking distant |
| 3:51 | · | candidates The researchers developed |
| 3:54 | · | simulations to estimate Planet 9's |
| 3:56 | · | apparent brightness based on mass and |
| 3:59 | · | temperature applying those models to |
| 4:01 | · | cross reference iris and AARI data They |
| 4:04 | · | applied strict filtering based on |
| 4:06 | · | brightness and expected motion narrowing |
| 4:08 | · | down from thousands of detections to |
| 4:11 | · | just 13 candidates Of these one object |
| 4:14 | · | met all criteria Its movement between |
| 4:17 | · | epochs matched predictions and it wasn't |
| 4:20 | · | visible in periods where it shouldn't be |
| 4:22 | · | The angular separation between the |
| 4:24 | · | detections around 42 to 69 arc minutes |
| 4:28 | · | was consistent with an object slowly |
| 4:30 | · | orbiting at hundreds of astronomical |
| 4:33 | · | units Importantly this candidate only |
| 4:36 | · | appeared in the expected time windows |
| 4:38 | · | with no repeat detections before or |
| 4:40 | · | after ruling out common infrared noise |
| 4:43 | · | or background stars If real it could be |
| 4:47 | · | a genuine slowmoving object in the solar |
| 4:49 | · | system possibly even the long sought |
| 4:52 | · | planet |
| · | From Theory to Reality – The Long Journey to a New World |
| 4:58 | · | 9 The search for planets beyond Neptune |
| 5:01 | · | dates back to the 19th century when |
| 5:04 | · | astronomers attempted to explain |
| 5:05 | · | anomalies in the orbits of Uranus and |
| 5:08 | · | Neptune These early efforts led to |
| 5:10 | · | Pluto's discovery but Pluto lacked the |
| 5:12 | · | mass to explain the observed |
| 5:14 | · | irregularities In recent decades the |
| 5:17 | · | detection of unusual TNOs like Sedna and |
| 5:21 | · | 2012 |
| 5:23 | · | VP113 revived the theory of an unseen |
| 5:26 | · | massive planet tugging at their orbits |
| 5:29 | · | What distinguishes the current study is |
| 5:31 | · | its use of archival data to track |
| 5:33 | · | movement that unfolds over decades |
| 5:36 | · | Instead of relying on short-term |
| 5:38 | · | observations the team leveraged the |
| 5:40 | · | concept of astrometric displacement |
| 5:43 | · | tracking how a nearby object appears to |
| 5:45 | · | shift slightly against a backdrop of |
| 5:47 | · | fixed stars due to its own slow movement |
| 5:50 | · | across the sky This is especially |
| 5:52 | · | valuable for outer solar system searches |
| 5:55 | · | where motion is too subtle to be spotted |
| 5:58 | · | over short periods The next step is |
| 6:00 | · | crucial confirming this candidate |
| 6:03 | · | through optical observations and |
| 6:05 | · | measuring its orbit For that fans team |
| 6:08 | · | proposes using the dark energy camera at |
| 6:10 | · | the Cherolo Inner American Observatory |
| 6:13 | · | in Chile DECAM offers a combination of |
| 6:16 | · | deep imaging and wide sky coverage |
| 6:20 | · | essential for catching faint slowmoving |
| 6:22 | · | bodies Once observed again scientists |
| 6:26 | · | can calculate the object's proper motion |
| 6:28 | · | which if consistent would provide enough |
| 6:31 | · | data to begin plotting an orbit If that |
| 6:34 | · | orbit is stable and solarbound and if |
| 6:37 | · | the object shows sufficient mass based |
| 6:39 | · | on brightness and temperature we might |
| 6:42 | · | finally have a confirmed new planet But |
| 6:44 | · | it's also possible this object is |
| 6:46 | · | something else a super Earth-sized brown |
| 6:49 | · | dwarf a scattered disc object or even a |
| 6:53 | · | former rogue planet captured during the |
| 6:55 | · | solar systems chaotic early days Each |
| 6:58 | · | scenario holds enormous scientific value |
| 7:01 | · | The implications of confirming planet 9 |
| 7:03 | · | would be enormous It would force |
| 7:05 | · | astronomers to revise models of solar |
| 7:08 | · | system formation particularly the role |
| 7:10 | · | of planetary migration and gravitational |
| 7:13 | · | ejection Did planet 9 form near Jupiter |
| 7:16 | · | and get flung outward or was it captured |
| 7:19 | · | from another stellar system during the |
| 7:21 | · | sun's youth whatever the outcome the |
| 7:24 | · | discovery process itself underscores the |
| 7:26 | · | power of combining historical data with |
| 7:29 | · | modern computing and scientific |
| 7:31 | · | imagination The solar system isn't a |
| 7:33 | · | finished puzzle It's a dynamic system |
| 7:36 | · | still full of surprises We're closer |
| 7:38 | · | than ever to answering a question that |
| 7:40 | · | has fascinated astronomers for |
| 7:42 | · | generations The candidate found by Terry |
| 7:45 | · | Long Fans team is the most promising |
| 7:47 | · | lead yet Not because it's flashy but |
| 7:50 | · | because it fits the scientific |
| 7:52 | · | expectations A faint slowmoving object |
| 7:55 | · | seen in two surveys decades apart With |
| 7:58 | · | no detections at the wrong times and a |
| 8:00 | · | brightness that lines up with |
| 8:02 | · | predictions this could be the moment we |
| 8:04 | · | turn theory into reality Further |
| 8:07 | · | observations will decide whether it's |
| 8:09 | · | truly a new planet or another strange |
| 8:11 | · | member of our distant cosmic family But |
| 8:14 | · | either way this journey driven by |
| 8:16 | · | patience science and curiosity reminds |
| 8:19 | · | us that even in the digital age there's |
| 8:22 | · | still value in looking back to go |
| 8:29 | · | forward Thanks for watching If you |
| · | Outro |
| 8:31 | · | enjoyed this video please like share and |
| 8:34 | · | subscribe for more fascinating space |
| 8:36 | · | stories Stay curious and keep looking |
| · | Enjoy |
| 8:55 | · | up Heat Heat |
| 9:34 | · | [Music] |
