Astronomers are close to starting a powerful new telescope on a mountaintop in Chile that could finally spot the elusive Planet Nine. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is designed to survey almost the entire southern sky every night, taking pictures with the biggest digital camera in the world.
Mike Brown, who first proposed the existence of Planet Nine, says he couldn’t be more thrilled with this telescope. “It’s perfectly suited for making the next step,” he said. The observatory will take images and compare them to previous ones to detect any changes, such as Planet Nine moving across the sky.
The telescope has a 70-80% chance of finding Planet Nine if it exists, but there are still uncertainties that need to be addressed, including its size, reflectivity, and distance. Even if the observatory doesn’t spot the planet directly, it might find smaller planets with orbits affected by Planet Nine’s gravitational influence.
Brown is “extraordinarily confident” that Planet Nine exists and says the Rubin observatory will provide a baseline picture of the sky by the end of the year. The telescope will allow astronomers to test their theories and determine whether they are correct or not.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2025/04/09/nx-s1-5347688/planet-nine-vera-rubin-observatory