Harvard scientists propose to find 'nature' of Planet Nine at edge of solar system

In a new plan, the Harvard scientists have proposed to find the “nature” of the hypothetical Planet Nine assumed to be lurking somewhere in the outskirts of the solar system which was established to be a primordial black hole recently in a new study, published September 24 on the arXiv pre-print server. The mysterious and still undiscovered object can be analyzed in depth by finding the "accretion flares" that will establish for the scientists whether "Planet Nine" is actually a black hole. While black holes are tiny and as big as a grapefruit, with a mass of about five earth, the hypothetical Neptune-sized planet X nicknamed "Planet Nine” is a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the Sun on average than Neptune.  

On July 9, an undergraduate student at Harvard who worked to propose the idea, Amir Siraj said in a Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics release, In the vicinity of a black hole, small bodies that approach it will melt as a result of heating from the background accretion of gas from the interstellar medium onto the black hole.

Dr. Avi Loeb, who developed the new method to search for black holes in the outer solar system, based on flares that result from the disruption of intercepted comets added, “Once they melt, the small bodies are subject to tidal disruption by the black hole, followed by accretion from the tidally disrupted body onto the black hole and because black holes are intrinsically dark, the radiation that matter emits on its way to the mouth of the black hole is our only way to illuminate this dark environment.”

As per the new study by Harvard, the LSST has the capability to find out if the object is black holes by observing for accretion flares resulting from the impact of small Oort cloud objects. In fact, many future primordial black holes (PBHs) could be informed by this new detailed mathematical modelling and computer simulations.  

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LSST’s depth will allow detection of flares

According to Harvard’s study, the upcoming LSST is expected to have the sensitivity which is required to detect accretion flares and study the nature of the distant objects which cannot be otherwise seen. While current technology would require guidance, it would be the only way to see any black hole. “LSST has a wide field of view, covering the entire sky again and again, and searching for transient flares,” said Loeb. “Other telescopes are good at pointing at a known target but we do not know exactly where to look for Planet Nine. We only know the broad region in which it may reside.” Siraj added, “LSST’s ability to survey the sky twice per week is extremely valuable. In addition, its unprecedented depth will allow for the detection of flares resulting from relatively small impactors, which are more frequent than large ones.” 

Harvard’s paper focuses on the famed Planet Nine as a prime first candidate for detection. The subject of much speculation, most theories suggest that Planet Nine is a previously undetected planet, but it may also flag the existence of a planet-mass black hole, according to the scientists. While the finding would be of unprecedented "scientific significance" that a hypothetical discovery of a planet-mass black hole in the solar system would hold, the research will also help in understanding what’s out there.

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(All Images Credit: NASA)