Last year we teach that there may be a hiddenPlanet Ninein the outer reaches of our Solar System . Now it turns out there may be a Planet Ten out there too .
The study , to be published in the Astrophysical Journal , was carry out by Kat Volk and Renu Malhotra from the University of Arizona ’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory ( LPL ) . A pre - photographic print is available onarXiv .
In their subject field , the researchers monitored the motion of space rock’n’roll in theKuiper Belt , a region of trunk beyond the orbit of Neptune . The motion of some of these eubstance indicate an unseen major planet may be affecting their range .
" The most likely explanation for our results is that there is some unseen plenty , " say Volk , the report ’s lead author , in astatement .
The planet would be somewhere between the Earth and Mars in mass . It would orbit much skinny than the theorized Planet Nine , about 60 times further from the Sun than Earth ( 60 AU , or galactic unit ) . Planet Nine is thought to be between 500 and 700 AU .
Planet Ten ’s existence is based on the discipline of 600 Kuiper Belt Objects ( KBOs ) . Some of these appear to have a “ warped ” orbit , which tilts them at eight degrees to the flat orbital plane of the major planets in the Solar System .
harmonise to the researchers , the best way to describe this warping is if there is another planet out there . They say Planet Nine , which is thought to be 10 times the mass of Earth or around half the mass of Neptune , can not describe for the anomaly .
" [ Planet Nine ] is too far away to mold these KBOs , " Volk said . " It certainly has to be much close than 100 AU to well affect the KBOs in that range . "
That ’s not to say Planet Ten definitely exists . talk toNew Scientist , Alessandro Morbidelli at the Côte d’Azur Observatory in Nice , France , said he was “ dubitable that a major planet so close and so bright would have remained unnoticed . ”
Volk and Malhotra , though , say we have n’t seen it yet because it might be locate towards the dense key part of the Milky Way . From our location , this region is full of star , which name it hard to study .
Another possibleness is that a passing star could have caused this warping . However , that would call for to have happened in the last 10 million year , which seems improbable .
It ’s theorize that there could be many hidden earth at the edge of the Solar System . Planet Ten , and indeed Planet Nine , could call on out to be just two of a whole boniface of planet we have n’t found yet . The Solar System might soon be getting a fortune busier .
