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Wide-orbit planets support the possibility of Planet 9
- Wide-orbit planets are those circling their home star at least 100 times farther than Earth orbits the sun.
- Researchers suggest wide-orbit planets are a natural result of chaotic early solar system formation, supporting the existence of Planet 9.
- Simulations show that wide-orbit planets are not anomalies but are common in turbulent, crowded planetary systems.
- These planets are believed to be stabilized by gravity from nearby stars after gravitational interactions scatter them away from their home star.
- The study involving researchers from Rice University and the Planetary Science Institute was published in Nature Astronomy.
- Wide-orbit planets have semimajor axes between 100 and 10,000 AU, far from traditional planet-forming disks.
- The findings could help explain the mystery of Planet 9, theorized to exist in our solar system at a distant orbit.
- The research also links wide-orbit planets to rogue planets, forming part of the growing population of free-floating planets.
- Exoplanet hunters could target high-metallicity stars hosting gas giants for finding wide-orbit planets, aiding the search for Planet 9.
- The discovery of wide-orbit planets offers new insights into the formation and evolution of planetary systems across galaxies.
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