Researchers Look to Medieval Period for Proof of Planet 9

There are some astronomers who have theorized that in the depths of our solar system, far beyond the orbit of Neptune, there is a large cold planet that has evaded discovery by modern researchers. ‘Planet Nine’, as it has been dubbed, may have been knowingly or unknowingly revealed by our medieval ancestors.

NASA Fox News writes that two researchers from Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland are searching through old scrolls and tapestries from the Medieval era, like the famous Bayeux Tapestry that showed the 1066 AD appearance of Haley’s Comet, looking for clues about Planet Nine.

Wikimedia Commons According to the Fox News article, if Planet Nine exists, it is estimated to be 10 times the mass of Earth and orbit 20 times farther from the sun than Neptune does. Planet Nine, states Fox, is not Nibiru, an unsubstantiated planet some believe is on a collision course with Earth. The existence of Planet Nine would help explain noted gravitational forces that occur in a specific area of the Kuiper Belt. “We have a wealth of historical records of comets in Old English, Old Irish, Latin and Russian which have been overlooked for a long time,” said university medievalist Marilina Cesario, one of the leaders of the project. “Early medieval people were fascinated by the heavens, as much as we are today.”

LaboratoryEquipment.com What makes the records useful are the dates and even times of comet and meteor sightings that took place hundreds of years ago. “We can take the orbits of comets currently known and use a computer to calculate the times when those comets would be visible in the skies during the Middle Ages,” Pedro Lacerda, a Queen’s University astronomer and the other leader of the project told Live Science, “The precise times depend on whether our computer simulations include Planet Nine. So, in simple terms, we can use the medieval comet sightings to check which computer simulations work best: the ones that include Planet Nine or the ones that do not.”

Wikimedia Commons By accumulating and systematizing the records, the two researchers hope to create a database that will help narrow down the location of Planet Nine. “It is fantastic to be able to use data about 1,000 years old to investigate a current theory,” Lacerda said.

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