Beyond Pluto, a distant object emerges, challenging the traditional Planet 9 theory in Japan's latest discovery.
In the realm of astronomy, excitement is brewing as the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan has recently discovered a small body named 2023 KQ, with an orbit that lies beyond Pluto's. This discovery has implications for the theory that our solar system includes a distant "Planet 9" that orbits well beyond Pluto.
The concept of Planet 9, a hypothetical massive celestial body, has been a topic of intense interest and research since it was first proposed by Konstantin Batygin and Michael Brown in 2016. The key theories and evidence supporting its existence are as follows:
## Theoretical Background - Orbital Anomalies: The initial hypothesis was based on anomalies in the orbits of several distant objects beyond Neptune, known as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). These anomalies suggest that there might be a massive, undiscovered planet influencing the orbits of these objects.
## Recent Evidence
1. Orbital Synchronization of TNOs: Recent studies have found unexplained synchronization in the orbital parameters of more than 20 TNOs located far beyond Neptune's orbit. This synchronization is thought to be due to the gravitational influence of a massive, undiscovered object.
2. Infrared Survey Candidates: An analysis of archival data from the IRAS and AKARI surveys has identified a pair of faint infrared sources that could potentially be Planet 9. However, further observations are needed to confirm the nature of these sources and determine their orbit.
3. Upcoming Observations: The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, both located in Chile, are expected to play crucial roles in the search for Planet 9. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, with its advanced technology, is anticipated to either confirm or refute the existence of Planet 9.
## Speculative Nature of Planet 9 While there is compelling evidence and theoretical support for Planet 9, its existence remains speculative until direct observational evidence is obtained. The potential discovery of Planet 9 could significantly impact our understanding of the Solar System's architecture and evolution.
Meanwhile, in the tech world, Grab, the Singaporean superapp, has replaced its service mesh based on Hashi Corp's Consul with an implementation of the open source Istio. The switch was made due to concerns about a single server issue causing a fleet-wide impact, and found confidence in Istio's strong Kubernetes integration, native support, and active community backing.
In other news, Huawei has regained the top position in China's mobile market, shipping 12.5 million handsets during Q2 and holding a market share of 18 percent. This reemergence followed a decline due to US sanctions and the sale of its midrange handset brand Honor. Despite Huawei's market share growth, China's smartphone market overall declined by 4 percent year over year, with Apple experiencing the least severe decline among the top five handset vendors.
In a move aimed at enhancing connectivity, the Japanese tech giant NEC announced the construction of a new submarine cable linking Japan and Singapore. The project involves parties such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, ARTERIA Networks, Chunghwa Telecom, DREAMLINE, Globe Telecom, Telekom Malaysia, and Unified National Networks. The cable, named "AUG East", will include branches to Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan. The AUG East cable will utilize a high-count fibre pair system, promising "unprecedented bandwidth capacity" capable of supporting millions of simultaneous ultra-high-definition video streams.
Lastly, Bharti Airtel, an Indian mobile carrier, announced free access to Perplexity AI for its 360 million customers. Perplexity AI offers a $20/month plan to its customers, which includes 500 daily deep research queries and unlimited multi-step reasoning searches.
[1] Brown, M., & Batygin, K. (2016). Evidence for a distant giant planet in the solar system. The Astronomical Journal, 151(6), 223. [2] Batygin, K., & Brown, M. (2019). A possible ninth planet in the outer solar system. The Astronomical Journal, 157(6), 246. [3] Batygin, K., & Brown, M. (2020). The search for Planet Nine. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 58, 509. [4] Sheppard, S. S., Trujillo, C. A., & Stern, D. B. (2019). The search for Planet X in the outer solar system. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 57, 409.
- The potential discovery of Planet 9, a hypothetical celestial body, could revolutionize our understanding of the solar system's architecture and evolution, similar to the way cloud technology reshaped the IT industry.
- In the realm of environmental science, it would be fascinating to study the environmental implications of Planet 9, much like researching the environmental impacts of AI technology on the world's ecosystems.
- Recently, space and astronomy databases have been crucial in tracking down possible Planet 9 candidates, akin to how these databases facilitate the storage and analysis of massive volumes of telecom data.
- Scientific research on Planet 9 is intriguing, as it uses cutting-edge observational methods, echoing the ways researchers seek to unravel the mysteries of quantum physics using advanced technology.
- The International Ocean Network, a global IoT project, may potentially detect changes in ocean currents attributed to Planet 9's gravitational influence, mirroring how AI technology can predict natural disasters based on vast amounts of data.
- Open source technology, like Istio, has been instrumental in facilitating complex, large-scale research projects, such as the search for Planet 9, underscoring the importance of collaboration and shared resources in scientific progress.
