Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Could Planet Nine already be hiding in old infrared data? In this episode of Event Horizon, John Michael Godier speaks with astronomers Terry Phan and Prof. Tomotsugu Goto about their search for Planet Nine using archival data from the IRAS and AKARI space telescopes. They discuss how two detections decades apart could point to a hidden giant planet in our solar system.
Papers:
A Search for Planet Nine with IRAS and AKARI Data
arxiv.org/abs/2504.17288
Do they repeat? Monitoring 36 non-repeating FRBs with FAST
arxiv.org/abs/2506.03564
The true fraction of repeating fast radio bursts revealed through CHIME source count evolution
arxiv.org/abs/2309.14337
Terry Long Phan is a PhD researcher at the Institute of Astronomy, National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Taiwan. His work focuses on observational astronomy, with an emphasis on infrared sky surveys and the search for elusive solar system bodies. He is the lead author of the study “A Search for Planet Nine with IRAS and AKARI Data,” which leverages archival infrared observations from space telescopes to identify candidate objects in the outer solar system.
Tomo Goto is a professor of astronomy at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Tokyo. He has been a fellow at the University of Hawaii and the Niels Bohr Institute. In 2006, he was a member of the JAXA team that launched the AKARI infrared space telescope. In 2015, he published his 100th peer-reviewed paper in an international journal. In 2021-2024, he was selected as a top 2% researcher in the world by Stanford University. He was ranked second among astronomers in Taiwan.
0:00 Introduction and bios
1:00 IRAS and AKARI infrared telescopes explained
2:13 Why Planet Nine might show up in old infrared data
3:27 The challenge of detecting distant, faint objects
4:13 Using visual inspection to identify candidates
5:02 The strongest Planet Nine candidate from the study
6:24 Orbital simulations and constraints from previous research
8:06 Can upcoming observatories confirm this detection?
9:33 Limitations of current infrared capabilities
12:50 Why this might change how we search for distant planets
15:28 Future follow-ups with new telescopes and data
18:10 Detecting movement in far-separated sky images
19:11 Estimating orbital periods from limited data
20:00 Why 700 AU is a critical distance for Planet Nine
20:38 Could telescopes mistake Planet Nine for a smaller object?
21:00 Why the object must be large to be seen by AKARI
24:30 Speculations about infrared detection of black holes or Dyson spheres
25:26 How infrared tells us about exotic solar system objects
30:31 Final thoughts and hope for a confirmed Planet Nine
YouTube Membership: youtube.com/channel/UCz3qvETKooktNgCvvheuQDw/join
Podcast: hcreators.spotify.com/pod/show/john-michael-godier/subscribe
Apple: apple.co/3CS7rjT
More JMG
youtube.com/c/JohnMichaelGodier
Want to support the channel?
Patreon: patreon.com/EventHorizonShow
Follow us at other places!
@JMGEventHorizon
Music:
stellardrone.bandcamp.com
migueljohnson.bandcamp.com
leerosevere.bandcamp.com
aeriumambient.bandcamp.com
FOOTAGE:
NASA
ESA/Hubble
ESO - M.Kornmesser
ESO - L.Calcada
ESO - Jose Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)
NAOJ
University of Warwick
Goddard Visualization Studio
Langley Research Center
Pixabay
Could Planet Nine already be hiding in old infrared data? In this episode of Event Horizon, John Michael Godier speaks with astronomers Terry Phan and Prof. Tomotsugu Goto about their search for Planet Nine using archival data from the IRAS and AKARI space telescopes. They discuss how two detections decades apart could point to a hidden giant planet in our solar system.
Papers:
A Search for Planet Nine with IRAS and AKARI Data
arxiv.org/abs/2504.17288
Do they repeat? Monitoring 36 non-repeating FRBs with FAST
arxiv.org/abs/2506.03564
The true fraction of repeating fast radio bursts revealed through CHIME source count evolution
arxiv.org/abs/2309.14337
Terry Long Phan is a PhD researcher at the Institute of Astronomy, National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Taiwan. His work focuses on observational astronomy, with an emphasis on infrared sky surveys and the search for elusive solar system bodies. He is the lead author of the study “A Search for Planet Nine with IRAS and AKARI Data,” which leverages archival infrared observations from space telescopes to identify candidate objects in the outer solar system.
Tomo Goto is a professor of astronomy at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Tokyo. He has been a fellow at the University of Hawaii and the Niels Bohr Institute. In 2006, he was a member of the JAXA team that launched the AKARI infrared space telescope. In 2015, he published his 100th peer-reviewed paper in an international journal. In 2021-2024, he was selected as a top 2% researcher in the world by Stanford University. He was ranked second among astronomers in Taiwan.
0:00 Introduction and bios
1:00 IRAS and AKARI infrared telescopes explained
2:13 Why Planet Nine might show up in old infrared data
3:27 The challenge of detecting distant, faint objects
4:13 Using visual inspection to identify candidates
5:02 The strongest Planet Nine candidate from the study
6:24 Orbital simulations and constraints from previous research
8:06 Can upcoming observatories confirm this detection?
9:33 Limitations of current infrared capabilities
12:50 Why this might change how we search for distant planets
15:28 Future follow-ups with new telescopes and data
18:10 Detecting movement in far-separated sky images
19:11 Estimating orbital periods from limited data
20:00 Why 700 AU is a critical distance for Planet Nine
20:38 Could telescopes mistake Planet Nine for a smaller object?
21:00 Why the object must be large to be seen by AKARI
24:30 Speculations about infrared detection of black holes or Dyson spheres
25:26 How infrared tells us about exotic solar system objects
30:31 Final thoughts and hope for a confirmed Planet Nine
YouTube Membership: youtube.com/channel/UCz3qvETKooktNgCvvheuQDw/join
Podcast: hcreators.spotify.com/pod/show/john-michael-godier/subscribe
Apple: apple.co/3CS7rjT
More JMG
youtube.com/c/JohnMichaelGodier
Want to support the channel?
Patreon: patreon.com/EventHorizonShow
Follow us at other places!
@JMGEventHorizon
Music:
stellardrone.bandcamp.com
migueljohnson.bandcamp.com
leerosevere.bandcamp.com
aeriumambient.bandcamp.com
FOOTAGE:
NASA
ESA/Hubble
ESO - M.Kornmesser
ESO - L.Calcada
ESO - Jose Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)
NAOJ
University of Warwick
Goddard Visualization Studio
Langley Research Center
Pixabay
