Why Can't Scientists Find the Enormous Planet X?

Summary

The script delves into the mystery of 'Planet Nine,' a hypothesized massive planet in our solar system, potentially 10 times the mass of Earth. It explores the history of its search, starting with Percival Lowell's theories and the discovery of Pluto, to recent anomalies in the orbits of distant objects suggesting a hidden planet. Despite skepticism and past misconceptions, the script highlights the ongoing quest for evidence, pondering the possibility of a yet undiscovered celestial body influencing our solar system's far reaches.

Takeaways

• 🌌 The script discusses the ongoing mystery and exploration of our universe, emphasizing that there is still much to discover despite our advancements in science and technology.
• 🔍 It highlights the concept of 'Planet Nine', a hypothesized ninth planet in our solar system that is believed to be significantly larger than Earth, with its existence suggested by the gravitational influences on distant objects.
• 📡 The search for Planet Nine is influenced by the unusual orbits of certain objects in the Kuiper Belt, which some astronomers interpret as evidence of a massive, yet unseen, planet.
• 💡 The script mentions the historical context of Percival Lowell's search for 'Planet X', which was later identified as Pluto, but did not account for the gravitational anomalies observed in Uranus and Neptune's orbits.
• 🚀 Lowell's initial mistake led to the discovery of Pluto, but subsequent data showed that Pluto was not massive enough to cause the gravitational disturbances he hypothesized.
• 🌀 The script explains that the true cause of the orbital discrepancies of Uranus and Neptune was a miscalculation of Neptune's mass, not a ninth planet.
• 🔮 Recent discussions about Planet Nine have been reignited by astronomers like Konstantin Batygin and Michael Brown, who have observed clustering in the orbits of distant objects, suggesting a massive, unseen influence.
• 🌐 The difficulty in finding Planet Nine lies in its predicted location far away from the Sun, at around 600 astronomical units, making it challenging to detect with current technology.
• 🔭 The script compares the search for Planet Nine to the search for exoplanets, explaining that different methods are used for detection depending on the distance and visibility of the objects.
• 🤔 It acknowledges the skepticism surrounding the existence of Planet Nine, given that its evidence is not yet extraordinary, and that the theory is based on a limited sample size of observed objects.
• 🌟 The script concludes by suggesting that the truth about Planet Nine may be revealed in the future, as technology advances and more data is collected, leaving the audience with a sense of wonder and anticipation.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video script?

The main topic of the video script is the ongoing debate and search for a hypothetical ninth planet in our solar system, often referred to as 'Planet Nine'.

Why do some scientists believe in the existence of a ninth planet in our solar system?

Some scientists believe in the existence of a ninth planet due to observed orbital anomalies of extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs) that suggest the gravitational influence of a yet undiscovered massive body.

Who was Percival Lowell and what was his contribution to the search for Planet Nine?

Percival Lowell was an astronomer who built an observatory in Arizona and hypothesized the existence of a ninth planet, which he called 'Planet X', to explain the discrepancies in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune.

Outlines

00:00

🌌 The Enigma of Planet Nine

The script introduces the concept of a potential ninth planet in our solar system, which is hypothesized to be significantly larger than Earth and exerting gravitational influence on distant objects. Despite advancements in technology and astronomy, the existence of this elusive planet remains a mystery, with its potential location estimated to be around 600 astronomical units from the Sun. The narrator emphasizes the vastness of the solar system and the limitations of our knowledge, drawing a comparison between the search for Planet Nine and the discovery of distant galaxies to highlight the scale of the challenge.

05:00

🔭 Percival Lowell's Quest for Planet X

This paragraph delves into the history of the search for a ninth planet, beginning with Percival Lowell's interest in astronomy and his belief in the existence of a 'Planet X' affecting the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. Lowell's dedication led to the construction of an observatory and a prolonged search, which continued even after his death in 1916. The discovery of Pluto in 1930 at Lowell's observatory was initially celebrated as the confirmation of Lowell's theory, but later analysis revealed Pluto to be too small to have the gravitational influence Lowell had proposed.

10:02

🌠 Resurgence of Planet Nine Theory

The narrative continues with the resurgence of the ninth planet hypothesis in recent years, driven by astronomers Constantin Batygin and Michael Brown. They identified peculiar orbital patterns among extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs) that could not be explained by the current model of the solar system. The similarities between Lowell's and Batygin and Brown's theories, despite being a century apart, suggest a persistent belief in an undiscovered massive planet. However, the scientific community remains divided, with skepticism surrounding the extraordinary claim.

15:04

🔎 The Challenge of Detecting Planet Nine

This paragraph discusses the difficulties in detecting Planet Nine due to the limitations of our observational methods. It explains that the techniques used to find distant exoplanets, such as transit photometry, are not applicable to the search for Planet Nine within our solar system. The vast distances and the dim nature of the hypothesized planet make its detection a challenging task. The paragraph also mentions alternative theories, such as the possibility of a hidden black hole, as an explanation for the observed anomalies.

20:04

🤔 The Debate Over Planet Nine's Existence

The final paragraph wraps up the discussion by acknowledging the ongoing debate over the existence of Planet Nine. It points out that the evidence for Planet Nine is not yet extraordinary and that the burden of proof lies with those making the claim. The narrator suggests that while Batygin and Brown are confident in their theory, the scientific method demands conclusive evidence before the existence of Planet Nine can be accepted. The script ends with an invitation to stay tuned for future developments in this astronomical mystery.

Keywords

💡Planet Nine

Planet Nine refers to a hypothetical ninth planet in our solar system, which is believed by some scientists to exist due to its gravitational influence on distant objects. It's a central concept in the video, illustrating the ongoing quest to uncover secrets within our own cosmic backyard. The script mentions that if Planet Nine exists, it could be about ten times the mass of Earth and four times its radius, influencing the orbits of distant asteroids and dwarf planets.

💡Astronomical Unit (AU)

An astronomical unit is a unit of distance used in astronomy, defined as the average distance from the Earth to the Sun. In the script, it is used to describe the immense distance of 600 AU where Planet Nine is theorized to reside, emphasizing the vastness of our solar system compared to the relatively small distances within which we've explored and found other planets.

💡Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs)

Trans-Neptunian Objects are celestial bodies that orbit the Sun beyond Neptune, in the Kuiper Belt and beyond. The video discusses how the unusual orbits of some TNOs have led to the hypothesis of Planet Nine, as these objects seem to be influenced by a gravitational force that could be attributed to a yet undiscovered massive planet.

💡Orbital Anomalies

Orbital anomalies refer to deviations from the expected orbital paths of celestial bodies. In the context of the video, the orbital anomalies of certain TNOs and the historical miscalculations regarding Neptune and Uranus' orbits are discussed, which have fueled theories about the existence of an unseen planet affecting these orbits.

💡Percy Lowell

Percy Lowell was an American astronomer who is mentioned in the script for his belief in a 'Planet X' based on his observations of Uranus and Neptune's orbits. His work initiated the search for a ninth planet in our solar system, which is a significant part of the video's historical narrative on the quest for Planet Nine.

💡Clyde Tombaugh

Clyde Tombaugh is credited with the discovery of Pluto, as mentioned in the script. His discovery was initially thought to be the elusive 'Planet X' that Lowell had hypothesized, but later it was understood that Pluto was not massive enough to cause the observed orbital anomalies of other planets.

💡Kuiper Belt

The Kuiper Belt is a region of space beyond Neptune's orbit that is home to many small celestial bodies, including dwarf planets and other TNOs. The video discusses how the orbits of objects in the Kuiper Belt have contributed to the hypothesis of Planet Nine, as their clustering suggests a possible gravitational influence.

💡Transit Photometry

Transit photometry is an astronomical method used to detect exoplanets by observing the slight dimming of a star's light as a planet passes in front of it. The script explains that while this method has been successful in detecting distant exoplanets, it is not effective for finding Planet Nine due to the different nature of the search within our own solar system.

💡Constantine Batygin and Michael Brown

Constantine Batygin and Michael Brown are astronomers who proposed the Planet Nine hypothesis in 2016, as referenced in the script. Their work is significant to the video's theme as they identified orbital anomalies among TNOs that led them to theorize the existence of a massive, undiscovered planet in our solar system.

💡Primordial Black Hole

A primordial black hole is a hypothetical type of black hole that may have formed in the early universe, shortly after the Big Bang. The script mentions the possibility that a small, primordial black hole within our solar system could be another explanation for the observed gravitational influences on TNOs, offering an alternative to the Planet Nine theory.

💡FarFarOut

FarFarOut, as mentioned in the script, is the most distant known object in our solar system at the time of the video's creation. It serves as a point of comparison to illustrate the scale of the solar system and the challenge of detecting objects as far out as the hypothesized Planet Nine.

Highlights

The ongoing quest to demystify the universe continues with the possibility of undiscovered secrets in unexpected places such as our own solar system.

Despite advancements in technology, our understanding of the solar system beyond the eight planets and their moons remains limited.

Some scientists propose the existence of a ninth planet, potentially ten times the mass of Earth and four times its radius, influencing the orbits of distant celestial bodies.

The concept of Planet Nine is intriguing due to its potential stealthy influence on the solar system from an estimated distance of 600 astronomical units away.

The search for Planet Nine is compared to the difficulty of detecting distant galaxies and exoplanets, highlighting the vastness of the universe and our solar system.

The history of the search for a ninth planet dates back over 100 years to Percival Lowell, who hypothesized Planet X due to observed discrepancies in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune.

Clyde Tombaugh's discovery of Pluto in 1930 was initially thought to be the elusive Planet X, but later measurements revealed it to be too small to account for the observed gravitational influences.

Modern astronomers have reignited the Planet Nine theory based on the unusual orbits of extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs) in the Kuiper Belt.

Constantine Batygin and Michael Brown's hypothesis suggests Planet Nine's existence due to the clustering and peculiar orbits of ETNOs.

The difficulty in detecting Planet Nine is attributed to its dimness and the vast, mostly unexplored volume of our solar system.

Transit photometry, a method used to detect exoplanets, is ineffective for finding distant objects like Planet Nine within our solar system.

The search for Planet Nine relies on traditional telescopes and the prediction of its potential location based on gravitational influences.

Alternative theories to Planet Nine include the possibility of a small, primordial black hole causing the observed anomalies in ETNO orbits.

The evidence for Planet Nine is based on a small sample size of ETNOs, and drawing large conclusions from limited data sets can be misleading.

Batygin and Brown believe that the existence of Planet Nine will be confirmed in time, as technology and observation methods improve.

The search for Planet Nine exemplifies the scientific process of hypothesis, observation, and the pursuit of truth in the face of uncertainty.

Transcripts

hey 42 here as science and technology

continue to demystify the world around

us

we humans have a bad habit of assuming

we already know it all but the truth is

whilst we're discovering new things

about the nature of our universe

all the time we've barely scratched the

surface when it comes to knowing

everything there is to know there are

plenty of secrets out there

just waiting to be revealed and there's

a good chance we're going to find some

of them

in the most unexpected of places take

our very own solar system for example

it's easy to think that in 2021

thanks to millennia of stargazing and

the recent introduction of some pretty

nifty telescopes

we know exactly what's going on out

there and where

but the solar system is a big place

and once we travel past its eight

planets and

their 200 odd moons our understanding

of our own cosmic backyard is

surprisingly sketchy

so much so that some scientists believe

the furthest reaches of the solar system

hide a truly giant secret

an undiscovered ninth planet

and we aren't talking about some

diminutive planet

wannabe like pluto sorry pluto

or ceres if proponents of the planet

nine theory

are to be believed our solar system's

currently unidentified

ninth member is actually kind of a

monster

as much as ten times the mass of earth

and four times its radius

this postulated planet is portrayed as a

kind of

stealthy puppet master hinting got its

own existence

by subtly adjusting the orbits of

millions of distant asteroids

and dwarf planets with tendrils of

gravity

pretty intriguing right but how could

such a huge planet remain hidden in our

very

own solar system even today when modern

technology is helping us unravel the

inner workings of galaxies

halfway across the known universe to put

some context around that question

planet nine is thought to be hanging out

around 600 astronomical units

from the solar system's center an

astronomical unit

being the average distance between the

earth and

sun in the context of our solar system

600 au is a very very long way indeed

by comparison neptune's orbit puts it at

a mere

30 au from the sun but in the context of

the universe

where distances are usually measured in

light years

600 au is nothing the most distant

object from earth

ever detected is a galaxy known as gnz11

and it can be found a cool 32 billion

light years

from where you're sitting right now when

we train our telescopes on gnz11

we're seeing the universe as it was just

400 million years

after the big bang admittedly galaxies

are a tad bigger and brighter than

planets

but even the most distant exoplanets so

far detected

an exoplanet being any planet located

outside

of our own solar system are much much

further away than planets nine

first observed in 2006 sweeps 4

and sweeps 11 were found orbiting a star

in the constellation sagittarius they're

approximately 27

700 light years away from earth

which means the most distant planets

known to humans are around three million

times further away from earth than

planet nine is purported to be

think of it as the astronomical

equivalent of a

cryptozoologist discovering a tribe of

yetis

high up amongst the cloudy peaks of the

himalayas

without ever realizing one had been

living in his garden the whole time

and that slightly odd analogy leads me

back to the same question

is it really possible that a giant

planet

could be lurking in our solar system

without

us realizing before we get into all of

that

why do people believe planet nine even

exists in the first place

the search for our solar system's ninth

member began over 100 years ago

with a man named percival lowell who

became interested in astronomy after

reading a book about mars

most people who get into stargazing buy

themselves a book or two

and invest in some kind of simple

telescope but

lowell happens to be a member of that

particular cross-section of society

known as

rich people so he kicked off his new

hobby

by building himself an observatory on

the top of a mountain

in arizona lowell was a very smart guy

but it's fair to say he was probably

more famous for his crazy ideas

than his good ones on the crazier side

he believed there was life on mars and

that he'd found evidence to prove

it of course the idea that maybe life on

mars isn't particularly controversial

even today but lowell wasn't talking

about life

of the microscopic variety more of the

little green men

kind another of lowell's bold but

possibly mental ideas was his belief in

the existence of what he called

planet x which sounds like it should be

the birthplace of a marvel super villain

but was actually just a name he gave to

a hypothetical ninth planet

he believed was hiding in our solar

system

for all his her brain schemes lowell

appeared to have a pretty good

reason to suspect another planet might

be lurking somewhere

out there he determines that the orbits

of the outermost planets in the solar

system

uranus and neptune were slightly

different to what mathematics

predicted based on our existing

planetary model

almost as if they were being tugged off

course by some kind of

distant massive object planet x

lowell began searching for this elusive

celestial creature

in 1906. devoting the entirety of his

energy to the endeavor

but the years went by without success

it's said lol became so obsessed with

his quest

that his inability to find planet x

eventually killed him

though i should point out his coroner

saw things a little differently

recording glow's cause of death in 1916

as a stroke despite lowell's demise his

passion and a large chunk of his cash

ensured the search for planetex

continued

after his death and in 1930 the

breakthrough was finally made when clyde

tombaugh

discovered a new planet using the

telescope at lowell's very own

observatory

in arizona our solar system's newest

inductee

was duly named pluto partly in tribute

to percival lowell

its first two letters matching his

initials you see

you're only mental until you're right

as you can probably imagine the folks at

the lowell observatory were pretty

bloody pleased with themselves at this

development

and much slapping of backs and hiding of

fives ensued

but those good vibes didn't last long

because it turned out the reason it had

taken decades to find pluto

was that it was very very faint and very

slow moving across the sky

suggesting it was a lot further out than

the other planets

and probably pretty small these

suspicions were confirmed in 1978

when pluto's moon sharon was discovered

allowing astronomers to definitively

determine the planet's mass

as it happened poor old pluto was a

tiddler

just one-sixth the mass of our own moon

such a diminutive distant planet would

have been about as capable of knocking

planetary heavyweights

uranus and neptune out of their

predicted orbits

as i would be of knocking anthony joshua

onto the canvas

to become heavyweight champion of the

world i.e

not very it was clear pluto was not the

plenitex percival was looking for

but wait a minute if pluto wasn't

causing neptune and uranus's orbital

oddities

that meant something else was right

actually wrong because it turns out the

whole

dodgy orbits of neptune and uranus

theory

has been one giant cosmic red herring

all along

a fact that was proven in 1989 when

voyager 2

visited neptune and discovered we'd

misjudged

its mass when astronomers plugged the

correct values into those complicated

astronomical equations they're all so

fond of they discovered the orbits of

both uranus and

neptune had been exactly where they were

supposed to be

the whole time and that was officially

the end of planet x

the theorized ninth planet in our solar

system

had never been there in the first place

if i'd made this video a decade ago

it would probably have ended right here

and i would have been up a suit and down

a mustache

obviously but over the last 10 years

astronomers have begun

whispering about planet nine once more

because whilst

lowell's belief in a hidden ninth planet

turned out to have been founded

on a massive mistake

weirdly enough it seems the conclusion

this false trail led him to

may just have been correct after all

perhaps the best

known planet nine theory today was put

forward by astronomers

constantine battigan and michael brown

in

2016. and their hypothesis isn't all

that different to lowell's from 100

years before

batagan and brown had also discovered

orbital anomalies

that were difficult to explain based on

our current understanding of the solar

system

though in this case the orbits were of

extreme

trans-neptunian objects ethnos

rather than planets ethnos are a group

of solar system satellites orbiting the

sun far out beyond neptune in the most

distant parts of a region called the

kuiper belt

we think there are literally billions of

these asteroids out there

though to date we've only found and

catalogued around

2 000 of them the ones we found so far

seem to share some pretty unusual

properties

we're talking orbits that are

perpendicular to those of the planets

and almost everything else in the solar

system orbits that travel the opposite

way around the sun

to almost everything else in the solar

system

and perhaps most significantly of all

orbits that seem to be clustered

together in a very specific

very non-random way so

what's causing all this weirdness you

guessed it planet nine is back

considering how badly things went with

the first astronomical expedition to

find planet nine

it's easy to be skeptical about these

claims and

plenty of people are after all it is a

bit of a weird coincidence that

two completely separate observatories

100 years apart

have led two very different sets of

scientists to believe in the same

hidden giant planet far out in the solar

system

but vatican and brown are certainly no

crackpots out to make gravitational

waves

they're incredibly well respected in

their fields and have a string of

accolades to their names

constantine vatican was named on the

forbes list of 30 scientists

under 30 who are changing the world

back in 2015 unpopular science magazine

named him one of 2016's most brilliant

people

mike brown on the other hand is

ironically enough

the self-styled man who kills pluto

having been instrumental in the

reclassification

of our solar system's pretender to the

planet 9 crown

to a dwarf planet back in 2006.

he also co-discovered a dwarf planet of

his own

iris in 2005. with

most radical scientific theories that

threaten to

fundamentally change our understanding

of established facts

you have huge numbers of skeptics on one

side of the argument

and a few eccentric and passionate

believers on the other

a bit like lowell and his belief in

martians

but when it comes to planet nine both

sides of the debate

are populated with bonafide geniuses

and all of them seem to be talking sense

when they argue

for or against the existence of planet

nine

so how are we mere mortals supposed to

figure out what to believe

well as carl sagan once said

extraordinary claims require

extraordinary evidence

and whilst there is some interesting

evidence pointing to the existence of

planet nine

to call it extraordinary would be

stretching the truth

just a little bit even basically and

brown themselves concede

they can't be sure planet 9 exists until

they actually manage to

find the damn thing which brings us back

to our all-important question

if planet nine really is out there

why haven't we found it yet i mentioned

earlier that the two most distant

exoplanets so far located

are three million times further away

from earth

than planet nine is supposed to be but

as is often the case with very big

numbers

it's hard to picture what that really

means

so let's shrink it down to human scale

if

you representing the earth we're

standing in dublin

ireland and both sweeps4 and sweeps 11

were in moscow where do you think you

would find

planet nine the answer is

also in dublin and in fact rather closer

than that

it would be less than one meter from the

tip of your nose

when you put it in those terms it's easy

to assume that

if we haven't found planet nine yet

that's because

it isn't there it should be staring us

in the face

literally it's easy to assume that

but neither of us are asses so we

probably

shouldn't in reality the fact we've been

able to locate such distant exoplanets

has no real relevance to the hunt for

planet nine

we found sweeps4 and sweeps 11 using a

method called

transit photometry which involves

monitoring a whole bunch of stars for a

long period of time

and watching out for any small dips in

the intensity of light given

off which might indicate a planet

crossing or

transiting the star's surface we use

these kinds of techniques because

exoplanets are essentially

invisible to us here on earth they

simply aren't

bright enough to be seen directly so

we're only able to detect them by

watching out for

any impact they may be having on their

parent

star that makes searching for exoplanets

very hit and miss and when i say hit and

miss

what i really mean is a whole lot of

missing

interspersed with very very occasional

hits to detect an exoplanet through

transit photometry

the earth the planet and its parent star

have to be perfectly aligned otherwise a

transit

won't take place if you were to pick a

random star similar to our own somewhere

out there in space

the odds of us being able to detect an

earth-like planet

orbiting it at 1au using transit

photometry

would be a little under half a percent

think of transit photometry as a

brute-force approach to fighting

exoplanets

monitor thousands of stars over the

course of a few years

and you're bound to locate a few

exoplanets here and there

despite the relatively long odds if

on the other hand you wanted to find a

specific

planet orbiting a single star transit

photometry

would be next to useless in our own

solar system

transit photometry would only be able to

help us find the planets with tighter

orbits than our own

mercury and venus basically and both of

those are visible with the naked eye

when it comes to searching for planet

nine and other distant objects out in

the kuiper belt

and beyond we pretty much have to rely

on regular old telescopes

which makes the whole thing a seriously

tricky business

earlier this year it was confirmed that

the most distant object currently known

in our solar system is a planetoid

called

far far out which is just 140

au from the sun that's only about a

quarter of the way to planet nine

admittedly far far out is also far

far smaller than planet nine is supposed

to be

but still the point is we have never

detected an object as distant as planet

9

within our own solar system not even

close

which means that just because we haven't

found it yet

that doesn't mean it isn't out there

the solar system is very very big

and the vast majority of it by volume is

still

basically unknown to us vatican and

brown believe planet nine is

so dim it will only just be visible with

our current technology

given perfect atmospheric conditions

which may only come around a few times

per year

so for now all we can do is try

to predict where we think it should be

then train our best telescopes on that

part of the sky

and hope earlier i compared not being

able to find

planet nine in a world where we've

already tracked down planets

tens of light years from earth to

finding yetis in the himalayas

without realizing one's been living in

the garden

but in truth that analogy is a little

bit off

because it turns out if there is a yeti

in our garden

he's chronically shy and fond of

dressing up in full-on

camo gear whereas the few yetis we found

out there in the himalayas

just happens to be in exactly the right

place at the right time

and we're yodeling at the top of their

lungs i should point out there are other

possible explanations for what might be

causing the

unusual orbits of the ethnos we've found

so far

perhaps the most interesting of which is

the idea that a black hole

hidden within our own solar system might

be to blame

before you start worrying the earth is

about to be sucked into a giant cosmic

vacuum cleaner

the black hole in question would be a

tiny primordial black hole

and as yet purely theoretical variety

that may have formed soon after the big

bang this particular flavor of black

hole is much smaller than your average

collapsed star type being only about the

size of a grapefruit

but with a mass five to ten times that

of the earth

as interesting as both this and the

planet nine theory sound

the truth may actually be far simpler

remember how the evidence leading lowell

to believe in planet x turned out to be

a red herring

well it's quite possible that could be

the case here too

vatican and brown are basing their

assumptions on the very small sample

size

of etinos we've been able to study so

far we're talking tens out of the total

population

in the billions and drawing big

conclusions

planet-sized ones in fact from small

data sets is a dangerous business

no matter how compelling they may seem

on the surface

ultimately in science the burden of

truth lies with whoever's making the

contentious claim

and for now basically and brown haven't

been able to prove their theory

they do however believe it's only a

matter of time

so i guess that means all we need to do

is watch this space literally

thanks for watching you can get your

hands on my book stick a flag in it over

on amazon or on audible links to both in

the description below

thank you