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Kuiper Belt, Mars , Jupiter

Planet-X Resurfaces

Scientists at Kobe University, Japan, announced Thursday that they believe another planet is orbiting within our solar system, up to two-thirds the size of the Earth. Yes ladies and gentlemen, Planet-X is back!

I remember as a child in primary school extolling to all who would hear me that there were in fact 10 planets in our solar system, and not the regulation 9. It is a wonderful thing to be 10 years old with more information than those around you. In fact, to be perfectly honest, it’s a wonderful thing being any age and having more information than anyone around you, but that is another piece.

That Planet-X was later proven to be a myth, but I can’t help but wonder has it reappeared, or is this really just another until recently undiscovered planet.

To be published in the April issue of the US-Based Astronomical Journal, the study by Tadashi Mukai, the lead researcher and Patryk Lykawka is, however apparently based in nothing more than supposition.

The pair from Kobe University set up a theoretical model that focusing on the Kuiper belt – similar to the asteroid belt sitting between Mars and Jupiter, but out past Neptune and far larger; 20 times as wide and 20–200 times as massive.

The model was designed to look at the area and how it would have evolved over the past four billion years. “In coming up with an explanation for the celestial bodies, we thought it would be most natural to assume the existence of a yet unknown planet,” Mukai said. “Based on our hypothesis, we calculated how debris moved over the past four billion years. The result matched the actual movement of the celestial bodies we can observe now.”

So, as far as I can see, there isn’t anything like the gravitational effects that were played out on Neptune that led to astronomer Clyde Tombaugh locating Pluto in 1930. This time around, it is – as far as I can tell – simple statistics.

“The possibility is high that a yet unknown, planet-class celestial body, measuring 30 percent to 70 percent of the Earth’s mass, exists in the outer edges of the solar system,” said a summary of the research released by Kobe University. “If research is conducted on a wide scale, the planet is likely to be discovered in less than 10 years.”

So for all of us that intend to have that piece of trivia knowledge over our mates at a future pub visit, let’s keep our fingers crossed they finally locate Planet-X (and reinstate Pluto. It would be a bit anti-climactic to once again find a ninth planet!).