Ninth planet may be a black hole in the solar system, astronomers say

Recently, researchers proposed that the mystical "Planet X" may actually be a black hole.

Astronomers for long have shown interest in the possibility of a ninth planet in our solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune. This supposed celestial body has been termed " Planet X " in common terms and has been the subject of numerous investigations and speculations. Surprisingly, a new study of this mysterious object claims that such an enigma could be a primordial black hole.

Primordial black holes: the phenomenon yet to be confirmed

The idea of primordial black holes is quite an interesting idea but purely theoretical as yet-unconfirmed science. Still, a good portion of the astronomical community believes that they could compose up to 80% of all dark matter in the universe.

According to the theory of this assumption, it supposes that after the Big Bang, such black holes should have emerged; thus, a few may exist even today. The second striking feature of these primordial black holes is that they can be infinitely small in size. Such sizes are smaller than a subatomic particle.

Scholz and Unwin's proposal

A theory has been presented by British astronomer Jakub Scholz and his colleague James Unwin, that could explain some of the anomalous phenomena observed in the Kuiper Belt, a region of our solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune.

According to their study, this mysterious "Planet X" could actually be an ancient type of black hole, a mass five times as huge as Earth. This explains the reason why some of these small celestial objects which orbit in the Kuiper Belt have unusual motion trajectories as well as an excess amount of microlensing events which refers to a relatively short-term increase in brightness of a star as a result of the passage of some massive object between it and the observer.

What are microlensing events?

These are the events involving gravitational lensing that come out when the mass of an object, such as a star or a planet, directly passes between an Earth-based observer and the star. The bending gravitationally leads to the aberrated light rays of the distant star appearing as such, and thus enhances their apparent brightness for some time. The resulting phenomenon is called microlensing.

These phenomena are important to astronomers because they allow them to trace the existence of massive objects that are fainter than they would have been otherwise to be actually observed directly.

The dark matter halo

According to Scholz and Unwin, the radiation from such a primordial black hole would be negligible, but it could be surrounded by a halo of dark matter extending across several astronomical units. This might explain the observed anomalies in the motion of objects in the Kuiper Belt.

The orbit of the strange object

From the scientists, it is said that the orbit of the so-called "Planet X" or primordial black hole is about 20 times further from the Sun than the orbit of Neptune. This would place it in a very remote region of our solar system, which would make it difficult to detect directly.

Visitor from another star system

Some astronomers had even suggested that this mysterious object might not be part of our solar system but rather was flung in from outside 3 billion years ago. Under that theory, "Planet X" would be a rogue planet that once left its parent star and was captured by the Sun's gravity.

The search continues

However, this primordial black hole theory is going to prove difficult to be tested by the scientific community. They literally have to "hunt" the object or detect a source of gamma rays or X-rays that is in movement connected with it.

Although this is much more challenging of a case, the possibility that Planet X is an actual primordial black hole has been a topic of immense interest and excitement in the astronomical community. If it were proved true, we would be at the cusp of revolutionizing our insight into the solar system and into the very nature of dark matter.

The debate continues

Meanwhile, debate over "Planet X" continues to rage. Some astronomers are convinced of the object's existence; others are much more skeptical. In any case, the finding has pushed important advance in our understanding of the universe and showed that one must maintain an open mind to be successful in scientific exploration.