Astronomers have found new evidence, revealing the existence of an unseen and mysterious planet that could be hidden in the solar system.
The new research study which is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societyhas introduced a potential new candidate dubbed as Planet Y.
The planet in question has not been fully, but it was inferred by the tilted orbits of some distant Kuiper Belt objects. As per researchers observation, the existence of some hypothetical planet must be responsible for disturbing and tilting these orbits.
The Kuiper Belt is a vast ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune and for years, it has been researchers’ subject of attention searching for hidden planets.
As reported by CNN, although the existence of Planet Y has not yet been directly revealed, its alleged existence is suggested by sudden inclinations in the orbits of 50 distant objects.
Lead author Amir Siraj, an astrophysicist and a doctoral candidate in the department of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University said, “One explanation is the presence of an unseen planet, probably smaller than the Earth and probably bigger than Mercury, orbiting in the deep outer solar system.”
“This paper is not a discovery of a planet, but it’s certainly the discovery of a puzzle for which a planet is a likely solution,” he added.
The search for new and hidden planets beyond Neptune is not new. Since the early 20th century, scientists have been searching for a so-called Planet X dated back to the early 20th century, following the discovery of Neptune in 1846.
Initially, Pluto was considered a potential candidate for Planet X when it was discovered in 1930. Later it was classified as a dwarf planet due to its small size in 2006.
Planet Y is the latest in a series of hypothetical solar system planets that researchers believed to be present in the Kuiper Belt.
Observation challenges and inadequate data from the dark and distant Kuiper Belt are the reasons for the emergence of many proposed “ninth planet” candidates.
“I think within the first two to three years, it’ll become definitive,” Siraj said. “If Planet Y is in the field of view of the telescope, it will be able to find it directly.”
