Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Batygin, Konstantin
• Adams, Fred C.
• Brown, Michael E.
• Becker, Juliette C.

Titel

The planet nine hypothesis

Ist Teil von

• Physics reports, 2019-05, Vol.805, p.1-53

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

ScienceDirect Journals (5 years ago - present)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Over the course of the past two decades, observational surveys have unveiled the intricate orbital structure of the Kuiper Belt, a field of icy bodies orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune. In addition to a host of readily-predictable orbital behavior, the emerging census of trans-Neptunian objects displays dynamical phenomena that cannot be accounted for by interactions with the known eight-planet solar system alone. Specifically, explanations for the observed physical clustering of orbits with semi-major axes in excess of ∼250 AU, the detachment of perihelia of select Kuiper belt objects from Neptune, as well as the dynamical origin of highly inclined/retrograde long-period orbits remain elusive within the context of the classical view of the solar system. This newly outlined dynamical architecture of the distant solar system points to the existence of a new planet with mass of m9∼5–10M⊕, residing on a moderately inclined orbit (i9∼15–25deg) with semi-major axis a9∼400–800 AU and eccentricity between e9∼0.2–0.5. This paper reviews the observational motivation, dynamical constraints, and prospects for detection of this proposed object known as Planet Nine.