Baron Li

Influence of Hypothetical Planet 9 on Dwarf Planet Pluto

Started June 10, 2024

Abstract or project description

We studied the influence of the hypothetical “Planet 9” on other objects in the solar system, especially inside the Kuiper Belt; we chose to focus on Pluto. We discovered that the mass of the 9th planet has a linear relationship with the eccentricity, orbital period, and the Semi-Major axis of Pluto. Knowing the change in those parameters might also give a reasonable suggestion of the mass and distance of the theoretical “Planet 9”.

We used a simulation[4] to collect data for our study and processed it to find the orbital period, eccentricity, and semimajor axis of Pluto with 5 separate masses of Planet 9.

This research can help us redefine what we know about the solar system if the existence of a 9th planet is further considered or confirmed in the future. Further study can also use a similar approach to identify the mass and distance of Planet 9, given the real-time ground truth orbital information of other planets in the Kuiper belt.