Planet 9 would fall somewhere in between these categories. It could be what is known as a Super-Earth, a rocky planet larger than our own, or a Sub-Neptune, a gaseous world less massive and slightly smaller than Neptune.
The object, which the researchers have nicknamed "Planet Nine," could have a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbit about 20 times farther from the Sun on average than Neptune. It may take between 10,000 and 20,000 Earth years to make one full orbit around the Sun.
Planet 9 continues to remain elusive. This potential super-Earth-sized object in the outer Solar System is only hypothetical, as something out there appears to be gravitationally influencing several Kuiper Belt Objects into unusual orbits.
The evidence for Planet 9 comes from its gravitational pull on other bodies. If the planet exists, its gravity will affect the orbits of other planets.
The four outer planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus, giant planets that consist mainly of either gases or ice. Pluto was considered the ninth planet until 2006, when the International Astronomical Union voted to classify Pluto as a dwarf planet instead.
But they could as easily be primordial black holes floating around the galaxy, the astronomers proposed. If that were the case, the putative Planet Nine could well be a black hole, too, in a distant orbit around the sun.
NASA Discovers 10th PLANET is Larger Than PLUTO | Hidden Planet of The Solar System.
There is a lot of evidence for the planet – thought to be up to 20 times further out from the Sun than Neptune – but it may be impossible to see with current technology. The giant, hidden planet is thought to be 10 times larger than Earth and on an orbit that takes 10,000 or 20,000 years to go round the sun.
Planet Nine is unnamed, unconfirmed, and unknown. We haven't been able to detect it, and we don't even know for sure that if we did spot it, it would even be a planet. It might be a special kind of black hole, or be made entirely of dark matter.
So, what was the IAU's reason for demoting Pluto when it did? Why is Pluto no longer a planet? The main event of the 2006 General Assembly of the IAU, the proposal that would come to demote Pluto, was a defining moment for the rest of the solar system as well.
Scientists say it's highly unlikely. While large-scale collisions were prevalent when our solar system was young, it would be extremely rare for one to occur in a stable and established system like our own.
Planet Nine is a hypothetical ninth planet in the outer region of the Solar System. Its gravitational effects could explain the peculiar clustering of orbits for a group of extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs), bodies beyond Neptune that orbit the Sun at distances averaging more than 250 times that of the Earth.
Kepler-452b has been in Kepler-452's habitable zone for most of its existence, a duration just over six billion years. From the surface of Kepler-452b, its star would look almost identical to the Sun as viewed from the Earth.
NASA scientists have identified a planet like Earth
Named TOI 700 e, this new planet orbits within its star's habitable zone, which also hints at the presence of water on its surface.
Then, just last year, scientists discovered another Earth-like planet orbiting one of our closest neighboring stars, Proxima Centauri. Currently, this planet is the best candidate we have for supporting human life.
No other planet in our solar system currently has the conditions to support life as we know it on Earth. Even if scientists discover another habitable planet outside of our solar system, humans do not yet have the technology to visit it.
The paper is titled "Evidence for a Distant Giant Planet in the Solar System." This artistic rendering shows the distant view from Planet Nine back towards the sun. The planet is thought to be gaseous, similar to Uranus and Neptune.
And what forces are acting on our planet and our star to make this happen? In short, the sun is getting farther away from Earth over time. On average, Earth is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from the sun, according to NASA.
This speculative "Planet 9," according to estimates, would be about 5-10 Earth-masses in size and orbit about 400-800 au from the Sun.
It's a super Earth whose upper atmosphere reaches 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 degrees Celcius), meaning it only gets hotter as you move down. It's barely a hair away from its star, completing a year in 1.6 Earth days. Life is incredibly unlikely to survive there.
Named GJ 504b, the planet is made of pink gas. It's similar to Jupiter, a giant gas planet in our own solar system. But GJ 504b is four times more massive. At 460°F, it's the temperature of a hot oven, and it's the planet's intense heat that causes it to glow.
NASA astronauts used technology to determine that Uranus likely smells like rotten eggs. Yuck!
Astronomers have announced the discovery of the 100th planet known to inhabit another solar system. The star is 100 light years from Earth in the southern constellation Grus, or The Crane. The planet, one and a half times the mass of Jupiter, has a roughly circular orbit, like those of the sun's family of planets.
Psyche was discovered by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis on March 17, 1852. He named the asteroid for Psyche, the Greek goddess of the soul who was born mortal and married Eros (Roman Cupid), the god of Love.