How old were you in 2006 when Pluto, the ninth and farthest planet from the sun was delisted from the list of planets in our solar system? Are you even aware of this fact? Or do you still find yourself singing the mnemonic (if you know it) for remembering the order of the planets: “My Very Eyes May Just See Until Nine Planets”?
Well, it appears that researchers at the California Institute of Technology may have found evidence in the outer solar system of an object that could be a real ninth planet – a veritable replacement for Pluto!
Researchers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown haven’t actually seen the planet, but other research helped lead them to conclude that there is one. Basically, they found that certain objects in the Kuiper Belt — the field of icy objects and debris beyond Neptune — had orbits that all pointed in the same direction.
Over time, mathematical modeling and computer simulation led them to the conclusion that a planet was exerting the gravity necessary to shape these orbits.
Already, Caltech is pretty confident Planet Nine is large enough to rule out any debate about whether it’s a true planet — unlike Pluto, which got the boot in 2006.
Brown, who played a role in Pluto’s demotion to a dwarf planet, says:
All those people who are mad that Pluto is no longer a planet can be thrilled to know that there is a real planet out there still to be found. Now we can go and find this planet and make the solar system have nine planets once again.
Should this happen, that mnemonic will once again ring true; in the hope that Planet Nine is given a name starting with the letter P.
Source: CNN
