Scientists Find New Minor Planets Outside Neptune

Hello reader! My name is Irina, I’m conducting a telegram channel about astrophysics and quantum mechanics “Quant” . Translated for you an article on the search for trans-Neptune objects.
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Voyager 2 took this photograph of Neptune in 1989.

Using dark energy research data (DES), scientists have discovered more than 300 trans-Neptune objects (TNOs) - small planets located in the far corners of the solar system. The published study also describes a new approach to finding objects of this type and can help in the search for a hypothetical Ninth planet and other undiscovered planets. The work was led by graduate student Pedro Bernardinelli and professors Gary Bernstein and Masao Saco.

The goal of DES (Dark Energy Survey), which completed its six-year data collection in January, is to understand the nature of dark energy by collecting high-precision images of the southern sky. Although DES was not specifically designed with TNO in mind, its breadth and depth of reach made it capable of finding new objects outside of Neptune. “The amount of TNO you can find depends on what part of the sky you are looking at and which weakest object you can find,” says Bernstein.

Since DES was designed to study galaxies and supernovae, researchers had to develop a new way to track motion. Specialized TNO studies are conducted every hour or two, making it easier to track their movements.

Using DES data for the first four years, Bernardinelli began with a data set of 7 billion “points” —all possible objects detected by software that were above background image levels. He then deleted all the objects that were present for several nights - such as stars, galaxies and supernovae - to build a “temporary” list of 22 million objects before starting the “connect the dots” mass game to determine where the object will appear in subsequent nights.

After 7 billion points were brought to a list of approximately 400 candidates who were seen in at least six nights of observation, the researchers had to check the results. “We have this list of candidates, and we need to make sure that our candidates are really real,” says Bernardinelli.

To filter their list of candidates to real TNOs, the researchers returned to the original dataset to see if they could find more images of the subject in question. “Let's say we found something on six different nights,” says Bernstein. - The TNOs that are there, we actually indicated for 25 nights. This means that there are images where he should be, but did not go through the first step to be called a point. ”

Bernardinelli developed a method of folding several images to create a clearer view, which helped confirm whether the detected object is real TNO. It was also confirmed that this method is capable of detecting known TNOs in the studied regions of the sky and that it is possible to detect fake objects that were introduced into the analysis. “The hardest part was making sure that we really find what we needed to find,” says Bernardinelli.

After many months of developing and analyzing the methods, scientists discovered 316 TNOs, including 245 discoveries made by DES, and 139 new objects that were not previously published. Since only 3,000 objects are currently known, this DES directory represents 10% of all known TNOs. Pluto, the most famous TNO, is 40 times farther from the Sun than the Earth, and TNO found using DES data are in the range 30 to 90 times farther from the Sun. Some of these objects are located in extremely distant orbits, which will take them far beyond Pluto.

Now that DES is complete, the researchers restart their analysis, this time with a lower threshold for detecting objects in the first filtering stage. This means that there is even greater potential for finding new TNOs, possibly up to 500.

This TNO catalog will be a useful scientific tool for studying the solar system. Because DES collects a wide range of data about each detected object, researchers can try to figure out where TNO came from, since objects that form closer to the Sun are expected to have different colors than those that originated in more distant and colder places. And by studying the orbits of these objects, scientists can be one step closer to discovering the Ninth Planet, a hypothetical planet the size of Neptune, which is believed to exist outside of Pluto.

“There are a lot of ideas about giant planets that used to be in the solar system and no longer exist, or about planets that are far from us and massive, but too weak for us to notice,” says Bernstein. - Compiling a catalog is the most interesting discovery. After creating this resource, you can compare what is found with what, according to someone’s theory, should be found. ”