Image copyright Reuters Image caption Michael Brown specializes in finding distant objects

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin have provided evidence for the existence of a giant planet in the solar system, located even further from the Sun than Pluto.

Researchers have reported that they have not yet been able to see it through a telescope. According to them, the planet was discovered while studying the motion of small celestial bodies in deep space.

The mass of the celestial body is about 10 times the mass of the Earth, but scientists have yet to verify its existence.

The institute's astronomers only roughly imagine where the planet may be in the starry sky, and, no doubt, their assumption will launch a campaign to find it.

"There are many telescopes on Earth that can theoretically find it. I really hope that now, after our announcement, people around the world will start looking for the ninth planet," said Michael Brown.

Elliptical orbit

Scientists estimate that the space object is about 20 times farther from the Sun than Neptune, which is 4.5 billion km away.

Unlike the nearly circular orbits of other planets in the solar system, this object presumably moves in an elliptical orbit, and a complete revolution around the sun takes from 10 thousand to 20 thousand years.

Scientists have studied the motion of ice-predominantly objects in the Kuiper Belt. Pluto is in this belt.

Researchers have noticed a specific arrangement of some bodies in the Belt, in particular such large objects as Sedna and 2012 VP113. In their opinion, this can only be explained by the presence of an unknown large space object.

"All the most distant objects are moving in the same direction along an inexplicable trajectory, and we realized that the only explanation for this is the existence of a large distant planet that holds them together as they revolve around the sun," said Brown.

Planet X

The idea of ​​the existence of the so-called Planet X, located on the periphery of the solar system, has been discussed in scientific circles for over 100 years. They remember and forget about her.

The current hypothesis is of particular interest because of the lead author of the study.

Brown specializes in finding distant objects, and it was thanks to his discovery of the dwarf planet Eris in the Kuiper Belt in 2005 that Pluto lost its planetary status a year later.

Then it was assumed that Eris is slightly larger than Pluto, but now it became clear that she is slightly smaller than him.

Researchers studying distant objects in the solar system have been speculating for some time now that a planet the size of Mars or Earth could exist due to the size and shape of the planets in the Kuiper Belt. But until you can see the planet through a telescope, the idea of ​​its existence will be perceived with skepticism.

The study by Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin was published in the Astronomical Journal.

A new planet has been discovered in the solar system. This discovery was made by the astrophysicist of the Californian Technical University Konstantin Batygin. The author of the sensation admits that no one was looking specifically for the ninth planet. The discovery, which is destined to become the main one in astronomy for two and a half centuries, as often happens, was made by accident.

A strange anomaly that led scientists to the discovery of the ninth planet

Constantine was approached by his colleague, an astronomer from California, Michael Brown. He asked an astrophysicist to make calculations that would explain why some objects in the solar system behave in a strange way. It was about the Kuiper belt. This is the region farthest from the Sun. There is space debris left after: small asteroids, blocks of ice, stardust. It is from there that many comets come from that ply our system. Astronomers around the world have been watching the Kuiper Belt very closely for a long time, but only now an important discovery has been made.

If you study the Kuiper belt, then this is a field of ice debris outside the orbit of Neptune. Most of them walk in very eccentric and elongated orbits, conventionally randomly oriented in space. But if you concentrate on the most distant orbits, those that are farthest from the Sun in, you will notice that they are all oriented approximately in the same direction and lie approximately in the same plane. It was this orbital alignment that seemed anomalous to scientists.

It was this anomaly that Konstantin Batygin was asked to explain from a mathematical point of view. The astrophysicist put forward the assumption: objects in the Kuiper belt are oriented towards an unknown large space body. This gave astronomers the first clue in centuries. The atlas of the solar system familiar to everyone is incomplete. There must be another planet, and it is gigantic.

According to the new model, the ninth planet has a mass equal to ten, or twenty times the mass of the Earth, that is, it is, in principle, comparable to Uranus and Neptune. Knowing only the mass it is impossible to accurately judge its composition. However, you can compare it with other planets and assume that the ninth planet was formed from the same materials as other planets with a similar mass.

After analyzing the data on the mass and size of the ninth planet, Konstantin Batygin put forward the assumption that, most likely, this is a gas giant, exactly the same as Uranus and Neptune.

Sumerian mention of the ninth planet

The mention of the fact that in the solar system there is a planet with an irregular orbit, different from all others, is found among the ancient Sumerians. It was called Nibiru. The planet Nibiru, judging by the legends of the Sumerians, entered the solar system at a fairly high speed. She moved in an elongated epileptic orbit, moving away from the Sun at a considerable distance, then returning. The circulation period was 3600 years. This follows from the chronicle of the Sumerians.

Sumerian history is engraved on clay tablets that are almost 6,000 years old. It follows from them that once, on the territory of Mesopotamia, a highly developed civilization suddenly arose. The Sumerians had very detailed knowledge of space. They believed that Nibiru was not a lifeless planet. It was inhabited by creatures similar to people - the Anunnaki. They came to Earth to. According to one version, the aliens needed the precious metal to save their planet, which was rapidly losing its atmosphere. Gold was crushed, practically turning into dust, and this allowed heat and light to linger on Nibiru, preserving the conditions for life.

For hundreds of thousands of years, the Anunnaki developed deposits on their own, but then, as the Sumerian chronicles tell, there was an uprising of workers. The work was too hard. I had to. But the humanoid apes, which then lived on the planet, were too primitive even for such work. According to myths, the Anunnaki went on. By mixing the DNA of earthlings and their own, they got a completely new look. They created more so that man could do more difficult work than a monkey.

On Sumerian clay tablets, this process is depicted in the form of two snakes intertwined. This symbol is very reminiscent, and perhaps this Sumerian myth explains to us one of the greatest historical mysteries. Why they still cannot find an intermediate link between the ape and modern man. If you believe the ancients, then it simply cannot exist. and the monkey are actually genetically distant from each other.

Indeed, even on our own planet, we find life in the most unexpected places and types. In the ocean, at a depth of thousands of meters, creatures live that can withstand colossal pressure. And recently, scientists from Princeton University discovered that underground, at a depth of almost three kilometers, life is teeming. There are bacteria that use uranium ore as a source. If we record such amazing phenomena on earth, then what can we say about distant space? On the ninth planet? There, for example, the atmosphere does not have to be, or it can be liquid, or so dense that the pressure there will exceed all conceivable limits.

When it comes to, first of all, we mean a reasonable life. Who said that all beings in the Universe, endowed with intelligence, must necessarily be like us?

Our science understands the word life only as a protein-nucleic acid form, the main "highlight" in which is a cell. If this cell is not there, then there is no life either. But it’s another matter if by life we ​​mean something else. For example, Tsiolkovsky spoke about a radiant person. What it is? Reasonable, consisting of some kind of energy formations?

Perhaps someday we will be able to solve these amazing mysteries of the Universe, and perhaps we will never be allowed to do this ...

In 2006, at a meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), Pluto was excluded from the list of planets in the solar system. Since then, it has been referred to as a dwarf planet.

But scientists still do not lose hope of finding the mysterious ninth planet of the solar system, which is mentioned in ancient legends.

In 2016, researchers at the California Institute of Technology Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin, using computer modeling methods, concluded that there may be a ninth planet in the solar system, the mass of which is ten times the mass of the Earth.

Australian National University (ANU) launched a program to study images of the starry sky with the help of amateur astronomers. As the leader of this project says Brad Tucker: “Modern computers cannot match the passion of millions of people to study the starry sky. With tens of thousands of dedicated volunteers sifting through hundreds of thousands of SkyMapper images, we achieved four years of scientific analysis in three days. One of these volunteers, Toby Roberts, made 12,000 classifications". Since the launch of the project, its participants have managed to find and classify over four million objects in the night sky of the southern hemisphere of the Earth. This gives hope that the project participants will be able to find the" X planet ".

By 2017, researchers were able to prove that a planet the size of Neptune cannot be present in 90% of the points of the sky in the southern hemisphere of the Earth, at a distance of about 350 times greater than from the Earth to the Sun. But "Planet X" may be in the remaining 10% of the night sky. According to the Australian National University (ANU), four objects were found there, which will now be studied with telescopes at Siding Spring Observatory, located at an altitude of 1165 meters above sea level.

What are the signs of our new planet Solar system?

The size of the new planet is about 4 times that of the Earth, or, in other words, slightly less known to us Neptune... "Planet X" makes one revolution around the Sun every 15 thousand years. Its plane the orbits are tilted with respect to the plane of rotation of the rest of the planets by 30 degrees. Most likely, this planet is similar in composition to its neighbors and is an ice giant with a solid core inside. Calculations suggest that the mass of this ninth planet is 10 times the mass of the Earth.

How this ninth planet came into being is unknown. But according to one of the main hypotheses, at the stage of the formation of the solar system, the gravity of such giant planets as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune pushed this planet to the outskirts of the system.

This is how the planet appears to scientists now, based on their calculations, and what it will actually be - time will show. Good luck to astronomers!

About 30 man-made spacecraft in our solar system are currently collecting information about our planet and its surroundings. Every year, evidence is collected that supports some theories, pushing others to the sidelines. Here are some of the most curious facts that we managed to learn about our solar system in 2016.

Jupiter and Saturn throw comets at us

In 1994, the entire world watched as Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter and "left a trail the size of the Earth that lasted for a whole year." Then astronomers happily talked that Jupiter protects us from comets and asteroids.

Due to its massive gravitational field, Jupiter was believed to attract most of these threats before they reach Earth. But recent research has shown that the exact opposite may be true, and this whole "shield of Jupiter" idea is not true.

Simulations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena have shown that Jupiter and Saturn are likely to throw space debris into the inner solar system and into orbits that propel them onto Earth's path. It turns out that the giant planets are throwing us with comets and asteroids.

The good news is that the comets that bombarded the Earth during its evolutionary stages could "bring in volatiles from the outer solar system necessary for the formation of life."

Pluto has liquid water

On the outskirts of the famous solar system, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft reveals strange things about the distant dwarf planet Pluto. What is interesting in the first place is that Pluto has a liquid ocean.

The presence of fracture lines and analysis of a large crater called Satellite Planum led researchers to a model that shows Pluto has a liquid ocean 100 kilometers thick with a salt content of 30% under an ice shell 300 kilometers thick. It is about as salty as the Dead Sea.

If Pluto's ocean was in the process of freezing, then the planet should have been contracting. But it looks like it is expanding. Scientists suspect there is enough radioactivity left in the core to generate even a little heat. Thick layers of exotic surface ice act as insulators, and the presence of ammonia is likely to act as antifreeze.

The cores of Neptune and Uranus are wrapped in plastic

How do you know what lies beneath the clouds of distant gas giants, where atmospheric pressure is nine million times higher than on Earth? Maths! Scientists used the USPEX algorithm to imagine a possible picture of what is happening under the clouds of these poorly understood planets.

Knowing that Neptune and Uranus are made up mostly of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen, scientists have turned on calculations to determine the strange chemical processes that may be taking place there. The result is exotic polymers, organic plastics, crystalline carbon dioxide and ortho-carbonic acid (aka "Hitler's acid" because its atomic structure resembles a swastika) wrapped around a solid inner core.

While searching for extraterrestrial life on Titan and Europa, scientists hope that water could react with rocks with organic processes. But if the inner core is wrapped in exotic crystals and plastic, some things will have to be reconsidered.

Mercury has a huge Grand Canyon

If Venus and Mars had volcanic activity a few million years ago, it looks like little Mercury calmed down 3-4 billion years ago. The planet cooled down, began to shrink and crack.

In the process, a massive crack appeared, which scientists call the "great valley." According to scientists at the University of Maryland:

“The valley is 400 kilometers wide and 965 kilometers long, with steep slopes that penetrate 3 kilometers below the surrounding terrain. So you can compare, if the "great valley" of Mercury existed on Earth, it would be twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and stretched from Washington to New York and Detroit in the far west. "

On a tiny planet with a circumference of only 4,800 kilometers, such a large valley looks more like a terrible scar on his face.

Venus was once habitable

Venus is the only planet that spins backwards. At 460 degrees Celsius, its surface is hot enough to melt lead, and the planet itself is shrouded in clouds of sulfuric acid. But one day Venus may have been able to sustain life.

More than four billion years ago, Venus had oceans. In fact, it is believed that the planet's water has been over two billion years old. Venus today is very dry and has no water vapor at all. The solar wind of the Sun blew it all away.

The atmosphere of Venus emits a large electric field five times stronger than Earth's. This field is also strong enough to overcome Venus's gravity and push hydrogen and oxygen into the upper atmosphere, where the solar winds will blow them away.

Scientists don't know why Venus's electric field is so strong, but it could be due to Venus being closer to the Sun.

The earth is powered by the moon

The earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that protects us from charged particles and harmful radiation. If not for it, we would be exposed to cosmic rays 1000 times stronger than those that are now. Our computers and electronics would be fried instantly. Therefore, it is great that a giant ball of molten iron is spinning in the center of our planet. Until recently, scientists weren't sure why it keeps spinning. Eventually, it has to cool down and slow down.

But over the past 4.3 billion years, it has cooled by only 300 degrees Celsius. Thus, we lost very little heat, which did not play a special role for the magnetic field. Scientists now believe the Moon's orbit is supporting the Earth's incandescent core as it rotates, injecting about 1,000 billion watts of energy into the core. The moon may be much more important to us than we thought.

Saturn's Rings - New

Since the 1600s, there has been a debate about how long Saturn's rings exist and where they came from. In theory, Saturn once had more moons and some of them collided. As a result, a cloud of debris appeared, which decomposed into rings and 62 satellites.

By observing Saturn squeezing geysers out of Enceladus, scientists were able to estimate the relative strength of the gas giant's tug. Since all the satellites were thrown into longer orbits, this allowed scientists to roughly estimate when there was a meeting among the moons.

The numbers showed that Saturn's rings have nothing to do with the formation of the planet four billion years ago. In fact, with the exception of the more distant moons of Titan and Iapetus, Saturn's large moons appear to have formed during the Cretaceous, the era of the dinosaurs.

There are 15,000 very large asteroids in our vicinity

In 2005, NASA was tasked with finding 90% of large objects in near-Earth space by 2020. So far, the agency has found 90% of objects 915 meters or more, but only 25% - 140 meters or more.

In 2016, with 30 new discoveries a week, NASA discovered its 15,000 objects. For reference: in 1998, the agency found only 30 new properties per year. NASA is cataloging all the comets and asteroids around to make sure we know when something is about to hit us. Nevertheless, meteors sometimes erupt without warning, like the one that exploded over Chelyabinsk in 2013.

We smashed the device against a comet on purpose

The Rosetta spacecraft of the European Space Agency has been orbiting comet 67P / Churyumov - Gerasimenko for two years. The device collected data and even placed the lander on the surface, although not entirely successfully.

This 12-year mission has led to a number of important discoveries. For example, Rosetta discovered the amino acid glycine, the basic building block of life. Although it has long been assumed that amino acids could have formed in space at the dawn of the solar system, they were found only thanks to the Rosetta.

Rosetta discovered 60 molecules, 34 of which had never been found on a comet before. The instruments of the spacecraft also showed a significant difference in the composition of the comet's water and the water of the Earth. It turns out that it is unlikely that water on Earth appeared due to comets.

After a successful mission, ESA crashed the spacecraft on a comet.

Riddles of the Sun Solved

All planets and stars have magnetic fields that change over time. On Earth, these fields turn over every 200,000-300,000 years. But now they are late.

Everything happens faster on the sun. Every 11 years or so, the polarity of the Sun's magnetic field reverses. This is accompanied by a period of increased activity of the sun and sunspots.

Oddly enough, Venus, Earth and Jupiter align at this time. Scientists believe that these planets can influence the sun. As the planets align, their gravity combined, the study found, causing a tidal effect on the sun's plasma, pulling it in and disrupting the sun's magnetic field.

This year was truly rich in scientific discoveries in the field of astronomy. For the first time, mankind managed to explore two mysterious worlds, to find liquid water on Mars, and a huge subglacial ocean on the moon of Saturn. Therefore, despite the fact that the process of active development of the solar system has already been launched, 2015 managed to find several reasons to firmly gain a foothold in history.

In July of this year, the automatic interplanetary station "New Horizons" flew to Pluto at a minimum distance. During this rendezvous, the device managed to take many pictures of the largest of the dwarf planets in the solar system. Thanks to the space rendezvous, we can now enjoy incredible views of the "dwarf".

The automatic interplanetary station Dawn ("Dawn") devoted 2015 to the study of the largest object in the asteroid belt - Ceres. Over the past few months, the spacecraft has managed to take several unique images of the dwarf planet. By the way, on one of them, scientists discovered mysterious white spots, which were later identified as salt deposits.

Data from the Cassini probe helped scientists establish the presence of a global subglacial ocean covering the entire core area of ​​Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. Hydrothermal activity was also discovered, which may indicate the presence of the simplest forms of life.

In September of this year, NASA held a special press conference to unveil the veil of secrecy over the dark stripes on the surface of Mars near the equator, captured by cameras of the multifunctional automatic interplanetary station Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It turned out to be liquid water with a high salt content.

It has been an exciting and challenging year for the European Space Agency. Increased public attention was focused on ESA's “brainchildren” - the Rosetta spacecraft and its Phila descent module.

Rosetta went into space more than 10 years ago - in March 2004. During this time, she covered a total of about 6.4 billion km. In August 2014, Rosetta became the first ever spacecraft to orbit a comet. And the Phil module, although not very successful, nevertheless reached the surface of comet 67P / Churyumov - Gerasimenko. In June of this year, "Fila" came out of the mode of reduced power consumption, and ESA specialists finally managed to establish the connection with the device, which was lost as a result of landing.

This year, the US space agency managed to obtain data on the existence of lakes on Mars. After studying data from the Curiosity rover, scientists concluded that, most likely, in the past, the surface of the Red Planet was covered with vast bodies of water.

NASA has published the results of scientific observations made with the MAVEN probe. The findings suggest that solar flares are to blame for the disappearance of most of Mars' thick atmosphere. In addition, the solar wind carries away from the Red Planet about 100 grams of gaseous substances every second.

The death of "Messenger"

The automatic interplanetary station for the study of Mercury - "Messenger" - went on its flight in 2004. Seven years later, the station safely entered the orbit of Mercury, and in April of this year, Messenger ceased its "service", falling to the surface of Mercury.

You can read more about this and many other things in the "Science and Technology" section. News agency team Pushkinskaya.net will cover the main scientific events for you in the New 2016.