Extentia Breakfast Talk: Discovering Planet Nine

Surhud More, Associate Professor, IUCCA spoke at Extentia’s latest breakfast talk on July 25. The session revolved around the solar system, explanation of its census, and the modern methods of discovery of a planet. An IIT Bombay alumnus, Surhud holds a Ph.D. degree from the Max Planck Institute of Astronomy, Germany and has been honored with several national and international awards and fellowships in his 15 years of service. 

 

He talked about the ongoing research on the discovery of Planet Nine in the Solar System – currently being held at the Hawaiian island in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean. He introduced the audience to the process his team follows, using a large telescope that’s utilized for this purpose and discussed its specifications in detail. The talk laid out the history of how all the existing planets have been discovered – primarily based on finding perturbations in huge planets to find anomalies. The engaging session concluded with curious Extentians asking questions about black holes and the possibilities of the existence of a new planet.