An astronomer has outlined a new way of find the elusive Planet Nine , if it exists at all and has picked up moons as it orbits around our Sun .

You may be wondering why we have so much trouble finding a planet in our own Solar System , when thousands have been identify in recent yearsaround other star . Well , for planet orbiting other mavin , we have the theodolite method acting . basically , when a planet goes past a star we are observing , we see a magnetic dip in light . satellite in our own star organization , other than Mercury and Venus , do not go through in front of the Sun , rendering the transportation system method acting useless . Unless Planet Nine dead have a slip to the marrow of the Solar System , we are not going to discover it in this elbow room .

However ,   we can spot planet by looking at discrepancies in the orbits of other planet and body in the solar arrangement , show us where to point our scope . In fact , this is how uranologist and mathematician Urbain Le Verrierdiscovered Neptune in 1846 .

The reason why the great unwashed are looking for a occult 9th planet at all is because two astronomer from Caltech presented grounds that six object past the orbit of Neptune were bunch up together in a room that suggested they were being " crowd " . The squad have narrowed down where they believe the object – which they consider to betwo to four prison term the radius of Earth – is , but it remains problematical , with suggestions that it could even be astatistical anomalyand selection diagonal on behalf of the astronomer from Caltech .

Researchcarried out by Kevin Napier of the University of Michiganlooked at other objects past the orbit of Neptune . If the six objects are grounds of bunching triggered by a obscure planet , this would mean that their orbit differs from orbits of other aim in the same area . The team did not discover grounds to support that this was the case , and suggested the evidence for Planet Nine was , in fact , selection bias .

If Planet Nine is there – as some still believe to be the case – we still need a good way of find it . In a fresh paper posted to preprint server arXiv , uranologist Man Ho Chan suggest that one way to seem for the major planet is to front for caloric signature tune of any moons it may have picked up .

The newspaper suggest thatany large satellite bushwhack between the inner Oort cloud and Kuiper Beltis likely to nibble itself up some moon , just like other nanus planet outside Neptune ’s orbit ( such as Pluto ) have done . As the moonlight orb the planet ( or , as some have wildly speculated , a primordial black hole ) its puff would strain the satellite over and over again , heating it up in the process acknowledge astidal warming .

" We show that the tidal effect can heat up the satellites significantly , which can give sufficient thermal radio flux for observations , even if planet 9 is a colored object , " the source writes . " This offer a new indirect mode for see the satellite 9 theory and bring out the introductory belongings of satellite 9 . "

By Chan ’s calculations , based on object in the neighborhood of the theoretical satellite , it should foot up a reasonable figure of moon , perhaps as high as 20 , making the search for heat signatures slightly loose . This , Chan writes , would go even if ( and it ’s a big if ) Planet Nine is a " dark object " .

" If [ Planet Nine ] is a drear object and it has a satellite system , our proposal can directly mention the potential thermal signals emitted by the satellites now , " he concludes . " Therefore , this would be a timely and in effect method to support the [ Planet Nine ] theory and verify whether [ Planet Nine ] is a gloomy physical object or not . "

The research isposted to preprint server arXiv , and has not yet been compeer - review .