Can Planet 9 turn out to be a black hole?

One of the most intriguing mysteries of astronomyis an understanding of what exactly distorts the orbits of celestial objects at the edge of the solar system. You must admit that the strange orbits of distant bodies and gravitational anomalies require explanation. So, the most popular explanation today is a large, invisible, mysterious planet, called "Planet 9" or "Planet X". Although a hypothesis has been put forward about the existence of Planet 9, astronomers still cannot find it. However, a new study suggests that a black hole is to blame for the strangeness at the edge of the solar system.

Mysterious Planet 9 may turn out to be an unusual black hole

Something strange is happening at the edge of the solar system.

Last June, new computer modelsscientists from Cambridge University and the American University of Beirut (Lebanon) have shown that, after all, Planet 9 may not be needed to explain all the oddities that occur at the edge of the solar system. So, the accumulation of small ice objects can affect the orbit of neighboring celestial bodies. However, according to a new study, the reason we cannot see what exactly is on the edge of our solar system is because it is a black hole.

Do not forget to subscribe to our news channel on Telegram to keep abreast of the latest scientific discoveries.

The authors of a recent study by Jakub Scholz fromThe University of Durham (Great Britain) and James Unwin from the University of Illinois in Chicago (USA) are engaged not only in the study of strange orbits of celestial objects, but also in the set of gravitational anomalies observed during work on the Polish-American astronomical project to study dark matter using the gravitational method microlenses called Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE). Both phenomena, according to the authors, can be simultaneously explained by a new population of astrophysical bodies, the mass of which is several times greater than the mass of the Earth.

Primary black hole

Such a body may be a primary black hole(PSD), which formed during the first seconds after the Big Bang and somehow was captured by our solar system. The authors consider this idea as probable as the existence of Planet 9. Note that the presence of both a black hole and Planet 9 at the edge of the Solar System will require a rethinking of how planets form, given that Planet 9 is a free-floating object in the Solar System.

At the edge of the solar system is a mysterious object.

Interestingly, according to scientists, the proposedthe primary black hole may ultimately be more observable than previously proposed Planet 9, albeit indirectly. According to Scholz and Unwin, an NPD image can be obtained by capturing bursts of gamma radiation coming from the microhalo of a black hole and consisting of dark matter. Although astronomers currently have no way of observing dark matter, it is believed that interactions between dark matter and normal matter at the edge of the PSB will generate gamma-annihilation signals that devices such as the Fermi Space Telescope or Chandra X Observatory can detect.

What do you think is located at the edge of the solar system? Let's discuss this with the participants in our Telegram chat.

A black hole microhalo can span hundredsthousand miles from its center. However, can this black hole draw the planets into itself? If it is located in the same area as the proposed Planet 9, this means that the BHP is more than 56 billion miles from Earth. This is less than a distance of one light year, but quite close by astronomical standards. So is it worth the worry? According to the authors of the study, there is no reason to worry. The fact is that primary black holes are much lighter in mass than normal black holes, which were formed as a result of explosions of neutron stars. The mass of PSB, if it is at the edge of the solar system, is much less than the mass of our planet.