Planet Nine might no longer be just a myth. For the first time, astronomers think they’ve actually seen it — and the implications are massive.
A research team led by Terry Long Phan from National Tsing Hua University found a strange, faint object hiding in archived data from two separate infrared surveys: IRAS (1983) and AKARI (2006). The object moved slightly between the two datasets — just enough to suggest it’s orbiting our Sun from a jaw-dropping distance of 700 AU (that’s over 65 billion miles away).
First proposed in 2016, Planet Nine was a theory born from bizarre gravitational tugs on distant icy objects beyond Neptune. Something big — maybe 10 times Earth’s mass — had to be out there. Now, this new object might fit the bill.
What’s wild: Based on its infrared signature, this object could be even more massive than Neptune, potentially taking thousands of years to complete a single orbit.
Here’s why this find is different: Previous Planet Nine candidates showed up in one dataset, then vanished. This one? It’s in two. That consistency is a big deal in astronomy.
Next steps? The team will use mega-telescopes like the Dark Energy Camera in Chile to zoom in for confirmation. And with next-gen observatories like the Vera C. Rubin and Nancy Grace Roman coming online, the days of Planet Nine lurking in the shadows may be numbered.
If confirmed, Planet Nine could rewrite the textbook on how our solar system formed — was it kicked out by Jupiter? Captured from another star system? The mystery is heating up.