Two New Candidates for Planet Nine Found Using Infrared Signals
The search began when scientists noticed odd patterns in the orbits of distant icy objects beyond Neptune, called Kuiper Belt Objects.
Their unusual alignments suggest a massive, undiscovered planet—nicknamed “Planet Nine”—is pulling them into place. If real, Planet Nine would be 5-10 times Earth’s mass and orbit 400-800 times farther from the Sun. At that distance, it would be too faint for traditional telescopes to spot.
Led by Amos Chen from National Tsing Hua University, the team realized searching for Planet Nine’s heat could work better than looking for reflected light. Here’s why: doubling the distance makes reflected light 16 times fainter, but heat only becomes 4 times fainter.
They used data from AKARI, a Japanese space telescope that scanned the sky in far-infrared light—ideal for detecting a cold planet’s thermal glow. Unlike ground telescopes, AKARI isn’t blocked by Earth’s atmosphere.
The team focused on a specific sky region where simulations suggested Planet Nine might be, based on Kuiper Belt Objects’ orbits. The challenge? Distinguishing a slow-moving planet from stars, galaxies, and cosmic debris.
Their solution: Planet Nine would appear still over a day but move slightly over months. By comparing AKARI observations at different times, they filtered out false signals like cosmic rays.
After careful analysis, they found two candidates. Both appear in the predicted location and emit the infrared light expected from Planet Nine. While not proof, this is the strongest lead yet.
Follow-up observations with more powerful telescopes are needed to confirm if these are Planet Nine—or just imposters like distant galaxies. If confirmed, Planet Nine would reshape our understanding of the Solar System’s formation.
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