When you purchase through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it work .
Some experts believe that we could be just a few years aside from discovering the elusive " Planet Nine " — or prevail out the being of the hypothetical world for proficient .
Planet Nine : Is the search for this elusive creation closely over ?
Planet Nine is a theoretical planet in the outer solar system that has proved to be extremely hard to find.
translate more :
— 5 space discoveries that scientist are struggling to explicate
— 8 strange objects that could be hiding in the stunned solar system
If it exists, Planet Nine lies far beyond a distant ring of asteroids and dwarf planets known as the Kuiper Belt.
— Vera C. Rubin Observatory : The groundbreaking mission to make a 10 - year , time - lapse movie of the universe
But if we do chance it , how long would it take for us to send a spacecraft to the far - flung world ? And could humans ever make the trip ?
Planet Nine is the name give to a proposed major planet supposedly lurking near theedge of the solar system . If it exists , Planet Nine is likely a dark , gas or internal-combustion engine jumbo major planet somewherebetween five and 10 times the mass of Earththat circles the sun on a highly ovoid , or stretched , orbit — out of sync with the rest of the planet .
If it exists, Planet Nine lies far beyond a distant ring of asteroids and dwarf planets known as the Kuiper Belt.
researcher distrust Planet Nine is out there because around a dozen objects beyond the orbit of Neptune , move as if a heavy object is push on them . However , finding this overlook world has proved to be extremely tricksy .
But some astronomers believe Planet Nine could be discovered within the next few years once the country - of - the - art Vera C. Rubin Observatory initiate to appraise the nighttime sky in late 2025 .
Related : Elusive Planet Nine could be surrounded by red-hot moons , and that ’s how we ’d find it
A Planet Nine probe would have to travel further than NASA’s Voyager 1 space probe.
If Planet Nine is ever find , space bureau likeNASAwill require to send a probe to visit the distant world . But first , they will have to design and get commendation for such a mission .
" This will take at least a decade or more,“Andreas Hein , a infinite systems engineer at the University of Luxembourg , told Live Science in an electronic mail . This is mostly because missionary work have to go through a lengthy and rigorous governance survival of the fittest process , he add together .
But this process could be sped up look on how curious the earth seem in initial readings , Manasvi Lingam , a theoretical astrobiologist at the Florida Institute of Technology , recount Live Science in an email . " If Planet 9 is anomalous in some regard , there could be more interest in expediting such a delegation . "
It is also possible that a private blank geographic expedition company , such asSpaceX , could found missions sooner — potentially as soon as five years after discovery — because they are not hindered by as much bureaucratism , Hein said .
Reaching Planet Nine
Once a investigation is sent to Planet Nine , the next question is how long will it take to arrive ?
In 2022 , Hein , Lingam and part - clip astronomerAdam Hibberdattempted to resolve this question in a theoretic paper that was post to the pre - print databasearXiv . In this newspaper , which has not been match - reexamine , the researchers estimate that it would likely take between 45 and 75 years for a spacecraft akin to NASA ’s Voyager probes to achieve Planet Nine .
These deliberation were free-base on the assumption that Planet Nine is around 400 astronomical unit from the sun on fair , or 400 times far away from the Sunday than Earth . That ’s also around 13 clock time further aside from the sun than Neptune , the farthest known planet in thesolar system .
But subsequent studies evoke that Planet Nine ’s dead on target average distance from the Sunday is really closer to 500 astronomical units . And the most late survey , whichnarrowed down the baffling world ’s potential hiding lieu , also hints that the satellite could currently be more than 550 galactic units away , near its farthest pointedness from the sun .
However , these developments do n’t dramatically alter the timeline laid out in the 2022 paper , Lingam said . The team ’s estimates were " bourgeois , " meaning that the upper end of their uncertainty kitchen stove " still seems tenable , " he bring .
Pushing boundaries
Seventy - five years may seem like a long time for a one - way trip . But this is quite tight compare to the journeys of existing probe ; for exercise , Voyager 1 — the most distant spacecraft from Earth — has been traveling through space for 46 years and is only around 163 galactic units from Earth , according toNASA . As a outcome , a Planet Nine probe would have to travel around three times quicker than Voyager 1 to hit Planet Nine in the investigator ’s timeframe .
This may seem unlikely but it is potential , Lingam say .
Probes traveling toward the outer solar system must be gravitationally slingshotted around the Sunday , satellite and their Sun Myung Moon to propel them across the vast distances ask . Voyager 1 ’s trajectory was carefully plan to allow it to fly closely pastJupiter , Saturn , Uranusand Neptune , as well as some of their several Moon . To do so , Voyager 1 had to also be slingshotted around object to slow it down and redirect it to where it needed to go . However , a Planet Nine probe could go as right away as possible straight to the mysterious major planet , allowing it to plunk up more speed and journey much further in the same amount of time .
Related : Elusive Planet Nine could be an alternate conformation of gravitation masquerading as a major planet , discipline claims
Mike Brown , an astronomer at Caltech who co - proposed thePlanet Nine hypothesisin 2016,originally estimatedthat a investigation could potentially get to Planet Nine in as few as 20 years using a similar method . However , it is " difficult " to see how a probe could get to Planet Nine this fast using current technology , Lingam tell .
But it might be potential to make Planet Nine quicker if we could crack more advanced propulsion technologies , such as light sails — elephantine sail that catch sunlight or laser to speed up ballistic capsule , Hein and Lingam said .
In the 2022 study , the researchers suggested that a light canvas could take as little as seven year to reach Planet Nine . However , it could take at least 20 class for light sails to become a realness , the squad estimated .
As a result , if we found Planet Nine tomorrow , it would be better to air a current investigation than to look for alternative technologies to become available , Lingam said . " Laser sails can be launch later , if and when they become hard-nosed and price - efficacious . "
As actuation systems kick upstairs further , it may also be potential to send people to Planet Nine . But likely not anytime presently .
" I am surefooted that in the far future , humanity will be capable to visit Planet Nine , " potentially even as they make their way to other star , Hein said .
