U.S. Researchers Say 9th Planet May Exist In Solar System

Researchers at a U.S. institute reported Wednesday they have found evidence that suggests a giant planet exists in the outer solar system beyond Neptune.

Two researchers at the California Institute of Technology made the discovery through mathematical modeling and computer simulations and nicknamed the object, which would possess a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbit about 20 times farther away from the sun than Neptune on average, Planet Nine. Neptune orbits the sun at an average distance of 4.5 billion kilometers.

Once Planet Nine is directly observed, it is expected to become the ninth planet of the solar system after the demotion of Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet in 2006. (PNA/Kyodo) LGI/RSM