Ninth Planet or Wandering Star ?

TL;DR

This paper investigates how passing stars and massive Kuyperian objects influence the orbits of Kuiper Belt objects, revealing long-lasting eccentricity changes and significant orbital perturbations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of gravitational effects from passing stars and massive objects on Kuiper Belt objects, highlighting their lasting impact on orbital eccentricity.

Findings

Passing stars cause permanent eccentricity changes in Kuiper Belt objects.

Massive Kuyperian objects can significantly perturb lighter objects' orbits.

Eccentricity anomalies persist long after the perturbing bodies pass by.

Abstract

We study the gravitational effects of two celestrial bodies on a typical object of the Kuyper Belt. The first body is a kuyperian object itself with fairly large eccentricity and perihelion but with a large mass, about 16 times the mass of the Earth. The second body is a star whose mass is 30% - 50% of the mass of the sun that passes by our solar system at a speed between 25 km/sec and 100 km/sec and at a distance of closest approach between 0.05 and 0.5 light year. As a measure of the perturbations caused by these bodies on the light kuyperian object, we analyse its eccentricity. We find that the effects due to the passage of the wandering star are permanent in the sense that the eccentricity of the kuyperian object remains anomalous long after the passage of the star. The same is true of the heavy kuyperian object: it can perturb greatly the orbit of the lighter kuyperian object, which leads to a permanent, anomalous eccentricity.