A ninth planet larger than Earth could be hiding far beyond Pluto in the cold, dark depths of the solar system, according to new research published Wednesday in The Astronomical Journal.
The possile planet was named "Planet Nine" by Mike Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy at California Institute of Technology (CIT), and Konstantin Batygin, an assistant professor at CIT.
According to a statement released by CIT on Wednesday, Planet Nine "has a mass about 10 times that of the Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the Sun" than Neptune.
With an average distance of 90.20 billion kilometers from the Sun, it takes Planet Nine 10,000 to 20,000 years to make one full orbit around the Sun, according to researchers who deduced the existence of the mystery planet through mathematical modeling and computer simulations.
Though the identity of the new discovery as a planet has not been confirmed, experts are confident of finding it, based on indirect evidence of six objects in the icy Kuiper Belt influenced by a highly possible planet.
"For the first time in over 150 years, there is solid evidence that the solar system's planetary census is incomplete," said Batygin.
"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," Brown said. "Now we can go and find this planet and make the solar system have nine planets once again."
Brown is well known for the role he played in demoting Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet in 2006.
