Earth-like Planet Is Residing Inside Solar System: Report

The quest for finding Earth-like planets is a fundamental aspect of planetary science.

Researchers are extremely motivated to unearth another habitable planet. The consistent effort of the researchers seems to be turning worthwhile, as a group of astronomers have recently discovered some promising indications of a planet similar to Earth, and that too within our solar system. Isn't it sounds interesting? Let's dive deep into the findings.

The mystery of 90377 Sedna:

The Interstellar is a truly mysterious enviornment. The peculiarly egg-shaped path of a dwarf planet named 90377 Sedna is currently a hot topic in space science. It has one of the longest orbit, approximately 11,400-year. This "ushers the dwarf planet to 11.3 billion km from the sun, then escorts it out of the solar system and way past the Kuiper Belt to 140 billion km, and finally takes it within a loose shell of icy objects known as the Oort cloud," as mentioned in the report published. Sedna was discovered in 2003, however, astronomers couldn't explain how such a world could have configured in a seemingly empty space. Because, due to long distance, it's impossible to be influenced by other gigantic planets of the solar system or even the Milky Way galaxy itself.

The recent findings:

Recently, a study indicates that a far undiscovered Earth-like planet drifting in that region could be "deviating orbits of Sedna and a handful of similar trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), which are the countless icy bodies orbiting the sun at gigantic distances. Many TNOs have oddly inclined and egg-shaped orbits, possibly due to being tugged at by a hidden planet," astronomers mentioned.

By using advanced computer simulations, two Japanese scientists analyzed the impact of such an undiscovered planetary system on the TNOs. During these numerical simulations, evolutions of various real and model TNOs in the furthest reaches of an icy region, regarded as the 'Kuiper Belt', generated the visible orbits for Sedna and other TNOs.

According to researchers, if there is any, the planet would be approximately twice larger than earth. The astronomers further predicted "the planet reside somewhere between 23 billion miles (37 billion km) to 46 billion miles (74 billion km) from the sun."

"It is plausible that a primordial planetary body could survive in the distant Kuiper Belt, as many such bodies existed in the early solar system," researchers wrote in the published article.

The detailed research is published in The Astronomical Journal last month.

The quest for hidden worlds and controversies:

Searching for planets inside solar system is not a new idea. The so-called 'Planet Nine', a Planetary system 10 times bigger than Earth, is believed to be responsible for at least five unique and peculiar features in the solar system that includes the differently inclined orbits of a few Kuiper Belt objects.

This theoretical orb has gathered the attention of scientists, however, till now, it remains undetected. Some researchers argued that the highly eccentric orbits of TNOs, for which Planet Nine's occurance was believed obligatory, could appear without the hidden world's presence. According to an independent study in 2021, there is very low chance of existence of such a planet.

However, the newly hypothesized planet, regarded as "Kuiper Belt Planet (KBP)", would be "much closer and more influential on the orbits of Kuiper Belt's objects, especially those beyond 4 billion miles (7 billion km)," according to the recent study.

It is worth noting that the KBP has neither been directly or even indirectly observed till date. According to astronomers, "If the KBP orbits within 34 billion miles (54 billion km), there's a 90% chance of detecting it in the sky."

However, more structural information of objects in the edges of Kuiper Belt is required to reveal the presence of KBP. If discovered, it will offer valuable insights into the possibility of habitable environments beyond earth.