Two Japanese astronomers have found evidence of the existence of an Earth-like planet within our solar system, specifically in the Kuiper Belt. For years, the astronomy community has speculated about the existence of a ninth planet in our solar system, referred to as Planet Nine.
Simulation of the Ninth Planet. CALTECH
However, Japanese scientists now suggest there might be another planet, closer to Planet Nine, hiding within the Kuiper Belt. According to NASA, the Kuiper Belt contains millions of icy objects and is located beyond the orbit of Neptune.
The research was conducted by astronomers Patryk Sofia Lykawka from Kindai University in Osaka and Takashi Ito from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Tokyo.
In a report published in The Astronomical Journal, the duo describes an Earth-like planet within the Kuiper Belt. This Earth-like planet is estimated to have a mass 1.5 to 3 times that of Earth, with an orbit ranging from 250 to 500 astronomical units from the Sun (an astronomical unit being the average Earth-Sun distance). The planet’s inclination is about 30 degrees relative to the plane of the solar system.
However, they believe the temperatures on this planet are too cold to support life as we know it.
As of now, the farthest celestial object that humans can detect within our solar system is approximately 132 astronomical units away. Pluto, once considered the outermost planet in the solar system before its reclassification as a dwarf planet in 2006, is roughly at an average distance of 40 astronomical units from the Sun.
The Kuiper Belt starts at about 30 astronomical units and extends up to 55 astronomical units, within the main region, according to NASA.
“Understanding the orbital structure of the Kuiper Belt may reveal or rule out entirely the hypothesis of another planet in the outermost part of the solar system, that is Planet Nine,” the report states.