Space observations of distant objects have shown that the solar system extends further than astronomers thought. This is stated in a new report Web site Universities Space Research Association (USRA).
It was previously thought that the solar system would end beyond the Kuiper Belt, a scattered field of icy rocks located 48 astronomical units from Earth. One astronomical unit is approximately 150 million kilometers.
When studying other star systems, researchers found that debris fields around stars similar to the Sun extend at least twice that distance, making our home system quite compact on a cosmic scale.
A team of astronomers led by the Herzberg Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Canada analyzed data from the New Horizons probe, which was sent outside the solar system in 2006. Scientists used a machine learning algorithm that trained a neural network to recognize objects in the darkness of deep space.
The AI detected nearly twice as many Kuiper Belt objects, indicating a hypothesized increase in material density between about 60 and 80 astronomical units from Earth. According to new data, the solar system may be surrounded by a double ring of icy debris, making its size comparable to the area of other star systems.
At the same time, astronomers do not yet know what causes the gap between the first ring of the Kuiper belt and its presumed second ring.
Astrophysicists before acceptedThe ninth planet of the solar system is hidden somewhere in the Kuiper belt.