There is something big and mysterious hovering on the edge of the solar system3 min read

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Scientists have detected the presence of an unknown object lurking at the edge of the universe! This object might be 10 times the mass of the Earth. Its gravitational pull is warping the orbits of dwarf planets and similar bodies, and causing them to tilt their axes, all at the same angle.

What is warping?
Warping occurs when an object is bent or twisted out of shape by the action of heat and dampness. In space, it happens because of gravity.
Anything that has mass, is matter. And all matter has gravity. Gravity pulls on everything that has mass and warps it. By ‘it’ we mean space and time, the very fabric of the universe. This is why time slows down in certain pockets of space!

Sourced from NASA

The odds of the occurrences of the bent axes across all the celestial bodies are a meagre 0.007%, which is pretty slim! So, scientists are certain that there is ‘something else’ that is causing this warping and bending.

The ‘something else’

A new planet?

Is there another planet joining our solar system?

There are many speculations as to what this unknown object could be. A leading theory suggests that it could be the ninth planet of the solar system, a status that was enjoyed by Pluto until it was relegated to the status of a dwarf planet in 2006

Owliver’s Obscure Observations:
Did you know that you would age slower on the moon?

But just by a tiny mark. Following Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, a clock on the surface of the moon should run about 1/300.000,000 of a second slower than an identical clock here on Earth.

Mathematical models suggest that the planet has a stretched out orbit which at its closest point to the sun is still 300 times the distance between the sun and the Earth. At its furthest point, its distance from the sun is 600 times the distance between the sun and the Earth. This possibility will mean that the object is cold and icy like the planets Uranus and Neptune.

A primordial blackhole?

With gravity being the only evidence, another possibility comes forth. The unknown object could be a primordial blackhole— blackholes that were formed at the time of the Big Bang. It was a time when mass and energy were all over the place, a celestial moment chaotic enough to make a large planet squeeze into the a tiny space from where even light cannot escape. If this is the case, then the object would have 10 times the mass of the Earth but it will be the size of a mere orange! This will make it even more difficult to identify.

What makes a dwarf planet different from a planet?
It is a matter of size. As dwarf planets are smaller, their gravitational pull is not strong enough to accumulate everything in their orbits. These planets are smaller in size than Earth’s moon.

Stealth mode

The problem with the search is that unlike other searches, here scientists are looking for a particular object. They are not looking for a certain kind of object. In this case, a search across a sample of the space will lead the researchers to find something, even if the object is rare and the sample, wide. But with the unknown object, there’s only a tiny portion of the sky that has it, making it doubly difficult to locate. Also, existing telescopes do not comply with the magnitude of the search.

But this will change with the Vera Rubin telescope, which will be ready in the next few years.
Until then this guessing game continues…

Sourced from The Swaddle.