The Newest Member Of The Solar System Debunks Planet 9 Hypothesis

Bright Side

Think we already know all the planets in our solar system? Surprise surprise! 🌌 A mysterious new object with an extreme, almost unbelievable orbit has just been discovered — and it’s shaking up everything scientists thought they knew about Planet 9. 🌀 Could this strange celestial body be the missing link, or is it proof that Planet 9 was never real to begin with? From its wild orbit to the cosmic chaos it brings, this discovery is turning astronomy upside down. 🚀 If you're into space mysteries, scientific surprises, and the edge of our solar system, you won’t want to miss this mind-bending journey. 🌠   Animation is created by Bright Side.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

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00:00Attention, Earthlings! Yes, that would include you!

00:04Scientists have discovered a new member of the solar system.

00:07We officially have a new dwarf planet orbiting well beyond Neptune.

00:11But that's not all. Despite being small and unremarkable,

00:15this object, called 2017 OF201, I know it's a goofy name,

00:21might hold the key information about the speculated existence of Planet 9.

00:25Or, better said, it spoils the fun because instead of helping us find Planet 9,

00:31it could be the first tangible evidence that the theoretical 9th major planet was just that, a theory.

00:39But first, what exactly are dwarf planets? And why is this discovery so important?

00:45Well, in the early 21st century, researchers gained better telescopes

00:49and began discovering smaller, weirder celestial objects.

00:53It started with Eris in 2003, but the discovery of additional similar bodies

00:58led to Pluto losing its status as a, quote, true planet.

01:03To proudly carry the name of a planet, a space rock must check off three boxes.

01:08It must orbit the Sun, not another planet, like a Moon would.

01:12It must be massive enough for its gravity to make it round.

01:16And it needs to be gravitationally dominant in its orbit.

01:19In other words, an object should be able to clear out most other objects in its path

01:24by absorbing them, slinging them away, or influencing them in some other way.

01:30Like paying them off.

01:31Hey, just kidding.

01:33Imagine a giant, powerful truck driving in its own lane, pushing smaller cars aside.

01:38Hey, sounds like my commute.

01:40Although Pluto is orbiting the Sun and has the needed elliptical appearance,

01:44it's in the Kuiper Belt, a region full of icy objects.

01:49Because it can't clear its orbit, researchers realized that Pluto was not that different

01:54from many other similar bodies known as trans-Neptunian objects or TNOs.

02:00There are well over 5,000 known TNOs out there, with only 1,000 being officially numbered.

02:05Meaning they've been studied enough to have their orbits confirmed.

02:09Now here's where it gets interesting.

02:11A while ago, scientists noted a pattern.

02:14Many of these minor planets shared similar paths and tilts.

02:18This inspired a theory that those objects were influenced by some still undiscovered Planet 9,

02:24also known as Planet X.

02:26The proposed super-Earth would have a mass 5 to 10 times greater than Earth's.

02:31It would orbit far on the outskirts, possibly as far as 500 astronomical units,

02:37and like an invisible puppeteer, manipulate the orbits of TNOs with its gravity.

02:42Some of these objects get classified as extreme trans-Neptunian objects.

02:47Let's just call them ETNOs for short.

02:50ETNOs are minor planets with an average distance of at least 150 astronomical units from the Sun.

02:58They have eccentric orbits, which can't be explained by the gravity of Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, or Jupiter.

03:04This led some scientists to conclude that Planet X must be out there.

03:09As the years went by and more and more TNOs were discovered,

03:14scientists began to notice that those newly found objects didn't follow the previously established patterns.

03:20Many TNOs and ETNOs discovered in the last 5 to 6 years didn't match the same orbital parameters.

03:28Of the 6,000 objects found orbiting beyond 30 AU from the Sun,

03:32many show no signs of being influenced by a hidden planet.

03:37Well, despite that, scientists still hesitate to admit that Planet X is just wishful thinking.

03:42Not only is discovering something new exciting, but a planet like that could also protect us by pulling in asteroids from deep space.

03:51It could help explain why our solar system looks so different from many others,

03:56where super-Earths and mini-Neptunes are common.

03:59It might even solve how the solar system was formed, how objects got scattered, and what's still hiding in the dark.

04:06Discovering Planet 9 wouldn't just be cool.

04:09It could reshape everything we know about the solar system.

04:13However, with the discovery of 2017 OF201,

04:17actually, that's still a mouthful.

04:19Let's call it OFI from now on.

04:21With the discovery of OFI, the whole Planet 9 theory seems to be on its last legs.

04:27So, what makes OFI so special?

04:29And how does it affect the idea behind Planet 9?

04:32The newly discovered member of our solar system is estimated to be about 430 miles in diameter.

04:40This places it in the dwarf planet category,

04:43certainly larger than many other trans-Neptunian objects,

04:46but still about one-third the size of Pluto.

04:49What stands out most is its elongated orbit around the Sun.

04:53It takes at least 25,000 years to complete one revolution.

04:57Its orbit brings it as close as about 45 astronomical units from the Sun,

05:03which is similar to Pluto's distance,

05:05and extends out as far as 1600 AU at its most distant point.

05:10This means it travels far beyond the Kuiper belt

05:13and approaches the inner boundary of the Oort cloud.

05:17This orbit is not just extremely long,

05:19it's also highly eccentric, stretched out like a long oval.

05:23This puts it in a rare group of objects that travel to the most distant parts of our solar system.

05:29While there are objects with longer orbital periods,

05:32like comets that originate from the Oort cloud,

05:35they're much smaller than this newly discovered dwarf planet.

05:39But despite its relatively large size for such a distant object,

05:43ORPHA is nearly undetectable.

05:45It spends most of its time hidden from Earth's view,

05:48far from the inner solar system and too faint for current telescopes to spot.

05:53In fact, astronomers estimate it's only visible for about 1% of its 25,000-year orbit.

06:00In fact, this new dwarf planet came closest to the Sun in 1930,

06:05the same year Pluto was discovered.

06:07Yet, it slipped away unnoticed.

06:10Nobody spotted it back then,

06:12and it only got discovered in May 2025 completely by accident.

06:16By digging through archived data from publicly available telescopes,

06:21researchers pieced together its location from 19 separate images taken over 7 years.

06:27That's impressive detective work.

06:29So, what does all of this mean for Planet X?

06:33The archived photos have revealed that this object's orbit

06:36does not match any of the orbital clustering

06:39previously used to support the Planet 9 hypothesis.

06:42It doesn't belong to the same group as other ETNOs.

06:46And, more importantly,

06:47if a hidden planet is really tugging on celestial bodies,

06:51Orphe should have been flung out of the solar system millions of years ago.

06:55If Planet 9 was where we speculated and had the predicted mass,

07:00then Orphe's current orbit wouldn't last.

07:02It would likely be altered or even destroyed within about 100 million years.

07:07However, its orbit appears stable and undisturbed,

07:11suggesting it has been like this for far longer.

07:15But wait! you exclaim.

07:17If the mysterious orbit of Orphe is not caused by an invisible giant planet,

07:21what else could it be?

07:23Well, space is full of surprises,

07:25and gravity isn't exclusive to planets.

07:29One idea is that the orbit has been stretched over time by galactic tides.

07:33Just like the Moon pulls on Earth's oceans,

07:36the Milky Way galaxy itself pulls ever so gently on everything in the solar system.

07:42It's a slow, steady force.

07:44But if you're far out enough, like Orphe is,

07:47even that gentle tug can twist your orbit over millions of years.

07:51Now, another possible explanation

07:54could be that a passing star may have come to our solar system a long time ago,

08:00especially during its formation.

08:02Back when the Sun was young and surrounded by newborn stars,

08:05one could have passed close enough to give some outer objects a gravitational nudge.

08:11That kind of flyby could have easily yanked an icy object into a stretched-out, tilted orbit.

08:17The third idea is that such unusual orbits are leftovers from the early solar system,

08:23when planets and debris were being flung all over the place.

08:26Some may have ended up in stable but extreme orbits, like Ophi, the dwarf planet.

08:31If something really is pulling on these distant objects from outside our solar system,

08:37something like the galaxy itself,

08:39then we lack models to explain it.

08:42It's remarkable that we've managed to spot Ophi in the first place.

08:45These objects only appear when close to the Sun,

08:48so we've likely seen just a fraction of what's out there.

08:51There could be hundreds or even thousands of similar rocks,

08:55all with strange orbits and mysterious origins.

08:58Which means the real mystery might not be a hidden planet,

09:03but the hidden world of space rocks quietly orbiting in the dark, waiting to be found.

09:09That's it for today.

09:10So hey, if you pacified your curiosity,

09:12then give the video a like and share it with your friends.

09:15Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.

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