Planet Nine is a hypothetical extra planet lurking in the far reaches of our solar system
For nearly a decade, astronomers have been scouring the outer reaches of the solar system for signs of a hypothetical ninth planet, to no avail. However, experts say we may finally be on the cusp of discovering it. Deep in the outer reaches of the solar system—so far from the known planets that the sun would barely be distinguishable from the nearest star—a vast, icy world may be lurking in the shadows, waiting to be discovered. More evidence has emerged of a hypothetical extra planet lurking in the farthest reaches of our solar system, and these clues lie in icy bodies that cross the orbit of Neptune on long, winding orbits around the sun.
The Voyager 1 spacecraft outside the solar system stopped sending useful data back to Earth
The Voyager 1 space probe is the farthest man-made object in space. It was sent in 1977 with a golden record on board that contained various sounds of our home planet: greetings in different languages, dogs barking and the sounds of two people kissing, to name just a few examples. The idea behind this recording was that Voyager 1 might one day become an emissary of alien life—a sonic time capsule of the creatures of Earth. Since its launch, it has also managed to complete missions to Jupiter and Saturn. In 2012, he crossed interstellar space.
Astronomers paid attention to the “seasons” of Uranus and Neptune, and also discovered their new satellites
The James Webb Space Telescope recently took aim at the strange and mysterious Uranus, a side-rotating ice giant. What Webb discovered was a dynamic world with rings, moons, storms and other atmospheric features, including a seasonal polar cap. With his exceptional sensitivity, Webb captured images of Uranus’ faint inner and outer rings, including the elusive Zeta Ring, the extremely faint and diffuse ring closest to the planet. He also took pictures of many of the planet’s 27 known moons, even seeing some of the smaller moons inside the rings.
Uranus and Neptune are actually the same blue color, new color images show
While Voyager 2’s familiar images of Uranus were released in a form closer to “true” color, the images of Neptune were actually stretched and enhanced, and therefore artificially made too blue.