There have only been two planets truly discovered since ancient times. Every other planet has been previously found by ancient civilizations. When Pluto got pushed out of the scientific community as not being a planet, but rather an asteroid, people have been clamoring about wondering if we would have nine planets once again. This past week, however, this will all change as evidence of a new planet has been discovered. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology has discovered icy object and debris beyond Neptune. The way the space debris is orbiting the area, the simulations point that a planet must be exerting the gravity necessary to shape these kinds of orbits.
With more examination, the nicknamed “Planet Nine” is estimated to have a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun than Neptune, meaning the planet completes a cycle around the sun between 10,000 to 20,000 years. More evidence that points to this mysterious planet is that the space debris and other smaller moons surrounding the area have taken to an irregular elliptical orbit, causing confusion in the past, but has been cleared with new scientific and mathematic models. Upon closer inspection with the moons and debris circling, the anomaly could be the rough size of Earth or 3 times the size of it, going off of the pull and orbits.
Finding the planet is another story as due to the distance, dozens of objects in the way, the unknown factor of where it is in its orbit, and the overall oddity of its orbit, the mysterious planet will be faint to the point of being like a hazy ghost. As of right now, this isn’t the first time the hunt for a planet was initiated. The original hunt for Planet X was in the 1930’s and eventually came to the discovery of Pluto (which has been out of solar system units since 2006). With other factors in mind, the new planet could be a gas giant such as Neptune and Jupiter. Astronomy professor Mike Brown, the discoverer of this anomaly told NASA that, “He is happy about the potential discovery, but is still skeptical.” As the planet has yet to be spotted, it cannot be officially confirmed that there is another planet in our system. To have not been seen within ancient civilizations and our time until now can point to the anomaly’s strange orbit and elongated orbit around the sun.
If there are any more planets in our system, it’s only a matter of time until we discover them and add the mysterious Planet X to our list of solar system buddies. And for all of you Pluto lovers, yes, Pluto is a dwarf planet and not just a moon or asteroid left behind.
