Will the Solar System have 9 planets again thanks to this new discovery?

Astronomers have discovered a celestial body that can be a large planet at the edge of the Solar System after using the ALMA glass system (millimeter / lower-millimeter Atacama telescope) of the Agency European time. Specifically, they discovered a fast-moving object passing through the field of view when observing the Alpha Centauri star system - the closest star system to Earth .

Its speed and brightness allow astronomers to exclude the possibility of a star. Based on the wavelength data obtained by ALMA, they believed it could be a TNO (Trans-Neptunian Object, a celestial body with a path farther than Neptune) moving around the Sun at a distance of 10 billion to 2. million billion miles (1 mile equals 1.6km). Meanwhile, Pluto's walking radius is less than 4 billion miles. Although this finding is really fascinating, it still brings many doubts.

This celestial body may belong to one of many types such as a brown dwarf.

Often, stars emit too strong light, which makes astronomers difficult to identify any celestial bodies in their neighborhood, but ALMA is designed to capture low-frequency wavelengths. , allowing researchers to see objects closer to stars. Since then, researchers have discovered a mysterious moving object in the field of view of Alpha Centauri.

They predict that this object may be one of many types such as a brown dwarf , a super-Earth Earth (planet larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune), or simply a small frozen object move in orbit farther than Pluto. Researchers have published the findings, but so far they still have to wait for more detailed reviews and reviews.

Researchers have identified the possibility that this is a new planet in the Solar System that will be relatively small, if it really exists. ALMA can only track a very small amount of sky in every given time. Therefore, researchers can only observe with a field of view of a maximum of 1 minute angle, ie only a fraction of 21,600 of the sky. The moon at the time of round has a view angle of 30 minutes when viewed from Earth. That means that the ability to observe a planet at the field of view above is quite small.

The possibility that this is a new planet in the Solar System will be relatively small.

Astronomer Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology told Twitter: "In fact, this is quite a funny thing, if it is true that ALMA has accidentally discovered a large celestial body outside of the Solar System in the school. Its very very small view, which means that there may be 200,000 Earth-sized planets in the outer region of the Solar System. " The higher possibility is that astronomers may have seen one of the frozen objects much more distant than Pluto, in the area of ​​the Kuiper Belt or the Oort Nebula. These areas have millions of such objects with a diameter of less than 1 mile to 1,500 miles.

Another astronomer, Phil Plait, also analyzed that with the infrared survey of the WISE system (NASA's infrared space telescope) carried out last year, all warm bodies are a bright spot in the picture. photos obtained. However, this survey did not recognize any large objects like a planet. So what astronomers have discovered through ALMA is likely to be just a small, cold object that moves in orbit farther than Pluto.

Until now, we will continue to wait more until the final assertion of this finding.