Trending Papers in astrophysics

Recent analyses have shown that distant orbits within the scattered diskpopulation of the Kuiper belt exhibit an unexpected clustering in theirrespective arguments of perihelion. While several hypotheses have been putforward to explain this alignment, to date, a theoretical model that cansuccessfully account for the observations remains elusive. In this work we showthat the orbits of distant Kuiper belt objects cluster not only in argument ofperihelion, but also in physical space. We demonstrate that the perihelionpositions and orbital planes of the objects are tightly confined and that sucha clustering has only a probability of 0.007% to be due to chance, thusrequiring a dynamical origin. We find that the observed orbital alignment canbe maintained by a distant eccentric planet with mass greater than ~10 Earthmasses, whose orbit lies in approximately the same plane as those of thedistant Kuiper belt objects, but whose perihelion is 180 degrees away from theperihelia of the minor bodies. In addition to accounting for the observedorbital alignment, the existence of such a planet naturally explains thepresence of high perihelion Sedna-like objects, as well as the known collectionof high semimajor axis objects with inclinations between 60 and 150 degreeswhose origin was previously unclear. Continued analysis of both distant andhighly inclined outer solar system objects provides the opportunity for testingour hypothesis as well as further constraining the orbital elements and mass ofthe distant planet.