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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Where *Isn't* Planet 9? Search for Planet Nine still continues [syfy.com]

Not long ago astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin (the two original people proposing the existence of the planet) used the alignments of the TNO orbits to back-calculate the potential location of the unseen planet in space [syfy.com]. It's a kind of treasure map to find the planet.

In a new paper they've put that map to use [arxiv.org], looking through survey data in a hunt for Planet 9.

[...] Brown and Batygin wrote software that simulates where Planet 9 would be and how bright it would appears for various values of its size, reflectivity, and orbital shape. They created a database of positions and brightnesses for it, and then combed through the [Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF)] database to look for it, going through the past three or so years of observations since the facility started its survey campaign.

[...] They ran 100,000 simulations of various parameters for the planet, and looked to see if the ZTF would've seen it if it were indeed smaller and closer to us. They determined that it would've been seen in the survey about 56,000 times out of the 100,000, so just looking at that their non-detection indicates the chance it's smaller and closer is now less than 50%, making it more likely it's farther out, bigger, and fainter.

The larger Vera C. Rubin Observatory [wikipedia.org] is expected to find many previously hidden objects in the solar system, and is scheduled to begin full operations in October 2023. It will accumulate all-sky survey data around 10 times faster than the Zwicky Transient Facility [wikipedia.org].

Also at ExtremeTech [extremetech.com].

Michael Rowan-Robinson from the Imperial College London has found a Planet Nine candidate in old IRAS data, but don't get too excited yet:

A search for Planet 9 in the IRAS data [arxiv.org]

A single candidate for Planet 9 survives which satisfies the requirements for detected and non-detected HCON passes. A fitted orbit suggest a distance of 225+-15 AU and a mass of 3-5 earth masses. Dynamical simulations are needed to explore whether the candidate is consistent with existing planet ephemerides. If so, a search in an annulus of radius 2.5-4 deg centred on the 1983 position at visible and near infrared wavelengths would be worthwhile.

The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) [wikipedia.org] was the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths. Launched on 25 January 1983, its mission lasted ten months.

Woah! Potential Planet 9 Candidate Found In The Old Data - Could This Be It? [youtube.com] (14m13s video)

Previously:

*SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

Mars-Sized Planetary Mass Object Could be Influencing Nearby Kuiper Belt Objects [soylentnews.org]
Planet Nine's Existence Disfavoured by New Data [soylentnews.org]
Medieval Records Could Point the Way to Planet Nine [soylentnews.org]
Another Trans-Neptunian Object With a High Orbital Inclination Points to Planet Nine [soylentnews.org]
LSST Could be the Key to Finding New Planets in Our Solar System [soylentnews.org]
CU Boulder Researchers Say Collective Gravity, Not Planet Nine, Explains Orbits of Detached Objects [soylentnews.org]
Planet Nine Search Turns Up 10 More Moons of Jupiter [soylentnews.org]
Planet Nine... or Giant Planet Five? [soylentnews.org]
Mystery Orbits in Outermost Reaches of Solar System May Not be Caused by "Planet Nine" [soylentnews.org]
New Arguments in Favor of a Ninth Planet in Our Solar System [soylentnews.org]
Scientists Propose Plan to Determine if Planet Nine is a Primordial Black Hole [soylentnews.org]
"Shift-Stacking" Method Used to Search for Dim Solar System Objects [soylentnews.org]
Claim for Giant 'Planet Nine' at Solar System's Edge Takes a Hit [soylentnews.org]

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