Mystery Planet 9 exists at edge of solar system, 10-20 times bigger than earth: Experts

Ever since Pluto has been demoted from the designation of a planet, the scientific community has been looking for its replacement. Well, the scientists might be close enough in doing so as researchers have now claimed the existence of a mystery object that is shrouded in the cosmic dark beyond the last planet, Neptune. Pluto was demoted to a ‘dwarf planet’ by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2006 and our solar system has had only eight planets ever since. 

The mystery of Planet 9

The stories of the existence of Planet 9 have been making rounds ever since astronomer Michael Brown, from the California Institute of Technology, pitched its theory a few years ago. Notably, it was Brown who is accredited to demoting Pluto as he had discovered that the planet didn’t fulfil the criteria to be designated as one.

As astronomers say, Planet 9 is hung somewhere at the edge of the solar system. In an interview with CBS News, Brown had revealed that Planet 9 is somewhere between 10 and 20 times more massive than the Earth and takes 15,000 years to complete one orbit around the sun. 

Proof of Planet 9

A report by Phy.Org suggested that a few experts are confident about the invisible planet’s existence after discovering strange gravitational effects on small icy objects outside the solar system also called Kuiper Belt Objects (KBO). Kuiper belt is a region that starts beyond the boundaries of Neptune. Media reports stated that astronomers recorded the KBOs not to be scattered randomly but clustered together, which hinted towards something with a strong gravitational pull.

According to a report by BBC, the orbit of the hypothetical planet might be extremely distorted and would have its orbit 600 times greater than what is between the Earth and the Sun (90 billion km). 

Where did it come from?

According to BBC’s report, astronomers have suggested three ideas for its existence. The report states that one could be its early formation and suspension at its current location while another idea suggests that it was stolen from another star billions of years ago when the Sun was still in the stellar cluster in which it was born. The third idea, which is most preferred by Brown’s colleague Konstantin Batygin, is that Planet 9 must have been born before any other planet and was pushed to the edges by other planets. Although not everyone agrees to its existence, some experts even argue that the mystery object might be a black hole. 

(IMAGE: TWITTER/@VIRALBERG)