Astronomers find clues to the existence of the ninth planet in the solar system

Two astronomers have found clues to the existence of a ninth planet in our solar system. ‘Planet Nine’ would be two hundred times as far from the sun as the earth and would take at least ten thousand years to circle the sun.

The astronomers did not see the planet itself, but saw clues in the orbits around the sun of other celestial bodies, New Scientist reports. The chance that these would have been caused by chance would be negligibly small.

The hitherto unknown planet is said to be five to ten times the size of Earth, have a year lasting between 10,000 and 20,000 Earth years, and go in an elliptical orbit around the sun. The two scientists are publishing their findings in the Astronomical Journal. One of the two astronomers is responsible for finding Eris, a celestial body with the characteristics of Pluto. Due to the finding of such celestial bodies, Pluto is no longer classified as a planet and the solar system currently has eight planets.