Is Planet Nine still out there?

Researchers debate the existence of a massive planet that could be hiding deep in our solar system. 

By Sarah Scoles
Aug 27, 2019 4:35 PMDec 13, 2019 4:38 PM
Planet Nine - Caltech
(Credit: Caltech/R. Hurt/IPAC)

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Giant Squid are tough to find because they’re rare and live deep in the ocean. Similarly, if a giant planet lives deep in the solar system, telescopes will have a hard time spotting it. But despite no physical evidence, some scientists still believe such a hypothetical world lurks about 56 billion miles from the sun.

The presence of this world, up to 10 times as massive as Earth and known as “Planet Nine,” would solve the orbital mysteries of other way-out objects. But is this “planet” just a gravitational illusion?

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