The idea of a ninth planet within our solar system based on certain observations may ultimately be refuted in favor of a new understanding of gravity inspired by galactic movements.
Harsh Mathur, professor of physics at Case Western Reserve University, and Katherine Brown, associate professor at Hamilton College, proposed this hypothesis after studying the effect of the Milky Way (also called “our galaxy” or sometimes…) on the objects of the outer solar system, assuming that the laws of gravity (gravity is one of the four fundamental interactions of physics) are dictated by a theory (the word theory comes from the Greek word theorein, meaning “to consider, observe”). ..) called dynamics (The word dynamics is often used to denote or qualify what is relative to motion. It …) modified Newton (or MOND).
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MOND points out that Isaac Newton’s famous law of gravity is valid to a certain extent. In fact, MOND predicts different gravitational behavior when the gravitational acceleration predicted by Newton’s law becomes sufficiently low.
Some observation successes of MOND at the galactic scale have led scientists to consider it as an alternative to “dark matter,” a type of matter (matter is the substance that makes up any body that has a tangible reality. It is… ) hypothetically, influence celestial objects gravitationally without emitting light (light is all electromagnetic waves visible to the eye…).
“MOON is very good at explaining observations at the galactic scale,” Mathur said, “but I didn’t expect it to have noticeable effects on the outer solar system.”
Their study, recently published in the Astronomical Journal, stems from interest in MOND following the announcement in 2016 of orbital anomalies in the outer solar system explained by the presence of a ninth planet (A planet is a celestial body that is the Sun or orbits another star). ..).
Orbital anomalies have led to major discoveries in the past. For example, the discovery of Neptune was due to its gravitational influence on nearby objects, and the precession of Mercury provided early support for the theory of relativity (This article discusses the theory of relativity over the centuries. Physics, the term… ) General by Einstein .
Brown speculated that MOND’s predictions may conflict with observations supporting the ninth planet hypothesis. “We wanted to see whether the data supporting the ninth planet hypothesis would actually refute MOND,” she said.
On the contrary, Mathur and Brown found that MOND predicts exactly the clustering that astronomers have observed. They argue that the orbits of certain objects in the outer solar system would be aligned with the galaxy’s gravitational field for millions of years.
When comparing the orbits of objects in the Ninth Planet dataset with the galaxy’s gravitational field, “the alignment was striking,” Mathur noted.
Although the current data set is limited and other hypotheses could prove correct, this work highlights the possibility that the outer solar system could serve as a laboratory for testing gravity and studying fundamental problems in physics.