ASTROPHYSICISTS think they may have uncovered an Earth-like planet in our solar system.
Researchers from Kindai University and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan have been observing the Kuiper Belt.
GettyAstrophysicists think they may have uncovered an Earth-like planet in our solar system[/caption]
The Kuiper Belt is a doughnut-shaped ring of icy objects around the Sun, extending just beyond the orbit of Neptune, Nasa explains.
Now, after running several simulations, the team believes they have found a planet around Earth’s size out there.
“We predict the existence of an Earth-like planet and several trans-Neptunian objects on peculiar orbits in the outer Solar System which can serve as observationally testable signatures of the putative planet’s perturbations,” the team writes in a new paper.
If the researcher’s predictions are correct, this new planet on the other hand would be around 1.5-3 times the size of Earth.
The team also posits that the planet could be between 200 and 500 astronomical units (AU) away from the Sun.
For content, Earth is around 94 AU away from the sun, while Pluto is 39 AU away from the sun.
The researchers made sure to distinguish this potential planet from the supposed “planet 9.”
Planet Nine is a hypothetical ninth planet in the outer region of the Solar System.
The team said that more information is needed to confirm the existence of either planet.
“More detailed knowledge of the orbital structure in the distant Kuiper Belt can reveal or rule out the existence of any hypothetical planet in the outer solar system,” the team writes.
And even if the celestial body’s existence is confirmed, that still doesn’t automatically make it a planet.
There are certain criteria that a space body must meet to be a planet, including being a certain size.
The findings were published on August 25 in The Astronomical Journal.