New Evidence Suggests Our Solar System Has Nine Planets Again - Earth.Com
Our solar system once had nine planets, but things changed when Pluto lost its planetary status in 2006. Ever since, astronomers worldwide have hunted for signs that we might still have a ninth planet out there, hanging way beyond Neptune.
Researchers at a university in Taiwan believe a Neptune-sized object could be wandering roughly 46.5 to 65.1 billion miles from the sun.
Their fresh findings are based on two deep infrared surveys taken more than two decades apart, with equipment sensitive enough to detect a faint planetary glow.
Infrared data from 1983 and 2006 offered a rare chance to see if something moved slightly between observations.
A possible candidate popped up, and the group thinks it might take 10,000 to 20,000 years to orbit the sun.
Astronomers have long paid attention to the Kuiper Belt , a region filled with icy bodies past Neptune.
There are a few strange patterns in that zone, including clumps of objects that appear to be pulled together by a large, unseen force.
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