- 2 days ago
For years, believers in the Nibiru mystery claimed that a massive hidden world was lurking somewhere beyond Pluto, far beyond the reach of ordinary observation. Now, new discoveries in the outer Solar System have reignited speculation that a large unknown object may be moving into view. Is Nibiru finally emerging from the darkness, or is there another explanation for this strange cosmic mystery?
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00:00Look at this giant donut-shaped region far away from Earth, beyond the orbit of Neptune.
00:05We're talking about a distance of more than 2.5 billion miles.
00:10It's the Kuiper Belt, and something eerie and bizarre is happening there.
00:16Dwarf planets and other small objects dwelling there refuse to cluster together.
00:21Instead, they follow particular orbits, which is weird.
00:25The reason might be a large, mysterious planet hiding beyond Pluto.
00:30Its gravity might be messing up the orbits of those Kuiper space bodies.
00:37Hear me out.
00:39Our solar system is made up of the Sun and everything that goes around it because of the star's strong
00:44gravity.
00:45This includes the eight main planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
00:53There are also smaller things like moons, asteroids, and Pluto.
00:59For a long time, people thought Pluto was the ninth planet, but when it was reclassified as a dwarf planet,
01:06scientists started looking for a new planet X.
01:08Did they have a thing about odd numbers or what?
01:12And guess what?
01:13Some really think there might be a big, icy planet hiding far, far away beyond Neptune.
01:20This mystery planet is often called Planet 9.
01:25Now, Planet 9 hasn't been seen yet, but scientists think it might be out there because of some tiny, faraway
01:32space rocks called etnos that move following bizarre, confusing paths.
01:38These paths seem to be grouped together and tilted in a way that doesn't happen by chance.
01:43This could mean there's a hidden planet pulling them into place with its gravity.
01:48If Planet 9 is real, it might be 5 to 10 times heavier than Earth.
01:53It would also be super far away, hundreds of times farther from the Sun than Earth is.
01:59Over the years, scientists have guessed different distances for its orbit, and the newest guess in 2025 says it could
02:06be about 290 times farther from the Sun than Earth.
02:11There are some cool ideas about where Planet 9 came from.
02:15It might have started as a big planet that Jupiter once kicked out of the inner solar system.
02:20Or it might have come from another star or even wandered around space on its own before getting caught by
02:27the Sun's gravity.
02:28Even though scientists have looked really hard using powerful telescopes, no one has actually seen Planet 9 yet.
02:36And so far, its existence is still just a theory.
02:40But recently, a group of researchers tried something clever.
02:44They used data from two special space surveys called ERAS and ACARI.
02:49These two looked at the sky in invisible light, far infrared, about 23 years apart.
02:57Which is helpful because Planet 9 is supposed to move very slowly.
03:02The team focused on a special list from ACARI, which is better at finding faint, moving things in space.
03:09They guessed how bright Planet 9 might be and how fast it might move based on how big, far away,
03:16and cold it could be.
03:19Then they looked for matching blips in the sky that were seen by both ERAS and ACARI, but not in
03:25the exact same spot.
03:26That's because a real planet would have moved a little over 23 years, and they indeed found 13 possible matches
03:34that could be Planet 9.
03:36Their estimations were based on how far away the object seemed to be, 500 to 700 times farther from the
03:44Sun than Earth, and how heavy it might be, which is 7 to 17 times Earth's mass.
03:51After looking very carefully at all the images, they narrowed it down to one really good candidate.
03:57The two detections weren't in the same spot in both surveys, and the way they appeared in the ACARI map
04:03matched what you'd expect from a slow-moving object.
04:07It showed up on one date and wasn't there six months earlier, but of course, there was a catch.
04:14Apparently, the old data isn't good enough to figure out the exact path of the potential planet.
04:19So, the team wants to do new follow-up observations using a special camera called DCAM, which is really good
04:27at spotting faint, moving objects.
04:29That way, they can find out if this candidate is really Planet 9.
04:35Additionally, it can help us learn more about how our solar system works and how it formed.
04:41If Planet 9 is ever discovered, it would totally change the way we understand our solar system.
04:47It could explain why some far-out space rocks in the Kuiper Belt tilt weirdly.
04:51The thing is, most planets go around the Sun in a flat-ish circle, but those far-away objects are
04:59tilted about 20 degrees.
05:01Planet 9 might be the reason why.
05:03Next, we'd probably find out why those tilted objects seem to point the same way.
05:09Their orbits are grouped together in one direction.
05:12A big, hidden planet's gravity could be hurting them like sheep.
05:17There are also some strange tilted objects super far away.
05:22They don't make sense unless something big, like Planet 9, is tugging on them.
05:26A few space rocks orbit the Sun backward between the big planets, which is kinda the wrong way.
05:33That's super weird unless something big is messing with them.
05:36Some far-out Kuiper Belt objects keep crossing Neptune's path and haven't been flung away.
05:43That's because Planet 9 might be helping keep their orbits stable over a long time.
05:50Another cool thing is that if Planet 9 existed, it would be a super-Earth,
05:55a kind of planet we see a lot around other stars, but we don't have in our solar system yet.
06:02So finding one here would make our solar system more like the others out there.
06:08Throughout history, people have been wondering if there could be hidden planets far beyond Neptune,
06:13even before Pluto was found.
06:18Back in 1880, a guy named George Forbes guessed there might be two unknown planets way out there,
06:26one about 100 times farther from the Sun than Earth,
06:29and the other about 300 times farther.
06:32He thought these mystery planets might be pulling on some comets and changing their orbits,
06:38kind of like how Jupiter does with the comets near it.
06:42In 2004, scientists found a weird little world called Sedna.
06:47It had a strange path around the Sun that didn't seem to be affected by any of the known planets.
06:53Its closest point to the Sun, called perihelion, is way too far for Neptune to be the reason.
06:59This made some scientists wonder if Sedna got pushed into its path by a hidden planet,
07:05maybe even something as big as Earth or bigger.
07:09Others thought maybe it was a star that flew by a long time ago,
07:13or another star that formed near ours.
07:17Then, in 2014, another odd object was discovered.
07:21It had a very similar orbit to Sedna,
07:24which made people even more suspicious that there could be something big out there messing with their paths.
07:31This kicked off a new round of the Planet X or Planet 9 hunt.
07:36At a meeting in 2012, a scientist named Rodney Gomez said that maybe there was a big,
07:42hidden planet around 1,500 times farther from the Sun than Earth.
07:47He thought it could explain the orbits of other odd objects,
07:51like some far-out comets and centaurs, small bodies that wander among the giant planets.
07:57At that time, those who supported the Planet 9 theory believed that if it existed,
08:02it would move around the Sun in a huge, stretched-out circle called an elliptical orbit.
08:07It would be about 400 to 800 times farther from the Sun than Earth is,
08:12about 13 to 26 times farther than Neptune.
08:17If it really had that kind of orbit,
08:19it would take around 10,000 to 20,000 years to go around the Sun just once.
08:24Plus, if it indeed orbited the Sun,
08:27it wouldn't follow the same flat path as the other planets.
08:31Its path would be tilted by about 15 degrees to 25 degrees.
08:35The farthest point in its orbit, called Aphelion,
08:38would be in the direction of the Taurus constellation.
08:42As for the closest point, it would point towards Serpens, Ophiuchus, or Libra.
08:48As for the composition of Planet 9, it would probably be a lot like Uranus or Neptune.
08:53It would have a thick atmosphere made of hydrogen and helium,
08:56and it would be super cold, negative 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
09:02Its core would be made of iron,
09:04and its middle layer would be full of rock and water ice.
09:07At the same time, if the planet was smaller and denser,
09:11then it might be more like Earth,
09:12with a rocky surface instead of a gassy one.
09:16According to a scientist named Mike Brown,
09:18if Planet 9 was real,
09:21a space probe would reach it in about 20 years
09:24if we used a powerful slingshot path around the Sun.
09:35Scientists may have just found evidence of a hidden planet
09:39in our own solar system.
09:41Not beyond distant stars.
09:44Not in another galaxy.
09:46Right here, orbiting the Sun.
09:50For years, astronomers have been noticing something strange
09:54happening far beyond Neptune.
09:56Objects in the outer solar system were moving in ways
09:59that didn't quite make sense.
10:01Their orbits were stretched, tilted, and oddly aligned,
10:06as if something massive was pulling on them.
10:09Now, new studies suggest
10:11there may be a large unseen planet hiding in the darkness.
10:15A world so distant and faint,
10:18the telescopes have struggled to detect it directly.
10:22Some scientists call it Planet 9.
10:25Others still refer to it as Planet X.
10:29And if it exists,
10:30it could be one of the biggest discoveries in modern astronomy.
10:34To understand where this idea comes from,
10:37we need to look at the outer edge of the solar system.
10:41Beyond Neptune lies a vast region
10:43filled with icy objects,
10:45known as the Kuiper Belt.
10:48This area contains dwarf planets like Pluto,
10:51along with thousands of smaller bodies
10:53left over from the early formation of the solar system.
10:57Most of these objects follow predictable orbits around the Sun.
11:01But over time,
11:03astronomers began to notice
11:04that some of them behaved very differently.
11:07Several distant objects had highly elongated orbits
11:10that all pointed in roughly the same direction.
11:14Instead of being randomly distributed,
11:16their paths appeared clustered,
11:19almost as if something was guiding them.
11:21That was the first clue.
11:23In 2016,
11:25astronomers analyzing these unusual orbits
11:28proposed a possible explanation.
11:31They suggested
11:32that a large, unseen planet
11:34might be influencing these objects through gravity.
11:38According to their models,
11:40this hidden world could be about
11:42five to ten times more massive than Earth.
11:45It might orbit the Sun
11:46at a distance of hundreds of astronomical units,
11:50meaning hundreds of times farther from the Sun than Earth.
11:53At that distance,
11:56one full orbit could take anywhere
11:57from 10,000 to 20,000 years.
12:01That would make it incredibly difficult to detect.
12:05Even large telescopes struggle to see objects
12:08that faint and distant.
12:09The planet would reflect very little sunlight,
12:12and it would move extremely slowly across the sky.
12:16But here's where things get more interesting.
12:19As more distant objects have been discovered,
12:22the pattern has continued.
12:25Additional trans-Neptunian objects
12:27show similar orbital clustering,
12:30strengthening the idea
12:31that something massive
12:32could be shaping their motion.
12:34Computer simulations have shown
12:36that a planet with the predicted mass and orbit
12:39could produce exactly this kind of effect.
12:42In other words,
12:44even though astronomers
12:45haven't directly seen Planet X,
12:47they may already be seeing its influence.
12:50There is another reason
12:52why this planet could have remained hidden for so long.
12:55Some models suggest
12:57that its orbit might be highly tilted
12:59compared to the rest of the solar system.
13:01Instead of orbiting neatly
13:03along the same flat plane as the planets,
13:06it could move at a steep angle,
13:08spending most of its time
13:10far above or below
13:11where astronomers typically search.
13:14It may also currently be located
13:16in a region of the sky
13:17that is difficult to observe,
13:19possibly hidden behind dense star fields
13:22or simply too faint to stand out.
13:25Because of this,
13:26scientists have been conducting targeted searches
13:29using powerful telescopes,
13:31scanning large sections of the sky over many years.
13:34So far,
13:36no direct image of Planet X has been confirmed,
13:39but the evidence continues to build.
13:42There are also alternative explanations.
13:45Some researchers argue
13:47that the strange orbits of distant objects
13:49could be caused by observational bias.
13:52Because astronomers tend to search
13:54certain regions of the sky more than others,
13:57the data might appear clustered
13:59even if it is not.
14:01Others suggest
14:02that the combined gravitational influence
14:04of many smaller objects
14:05could create similar patterns.
14:08There is even a hypothesis
14:09that a past stellar encounter
14:12when another star passed near our solar system
14:15millions of years ago
14:16could have disturbed these orbits.
14:18But none of these explanations
14:20fully account for all the observed data.
14:23That is why the Planet X hypothesis
14:25remains one of the leading ideas.
14:28And the search is accelerating.
14:31New telescopes,
14:32including next-generation survey instruments,
14:35are expected to scan the sky
14:37with greater sensitivity than ever before.
14:40These surveys may finally be able
14:42to detect faint objects
14:44moving slowly in the distant solar system.
14:46If Planet X is real,
14:49astronomers believe
14:50it could be found
14:51within the next decade.
14:53And if it is discovered,
14:55it would reshape our understanding
14:57of how the solar system formed.
14:59Some theories suggest
15:01that this planet
15:02may have formed closer to the sun
15:04and was later pushed outward
15:06by gravitational interactions
15:07with Jupiter and Saturn
15:09early in the solar system's history.
15:12Other ideas propose
15:13that it could even be a captured object
15:15from another star system.
15:18Either way,
15:19it would represent
15:20a completely new class of planet
15:22in our solar system.
15:24Right now,
15:25the outer solar system
15:27remains one of the least explored regions
15:29around us.
15:30We have mapped the surfaces of Mars
15:32and sent probes beyond Pluto.
15:35But vast areas of space around the sun
15:38are still largely unknown.
15:40And somewhere out there,
15:42far beyond Neptune,
15:44a massive world
15:45could be moving slowly
15:46through the darkness,
15:48hidden from view.
15:49If scientists are right,
15:51Planet X has been there
15:53the entire time.
15:54We just didn't know
15:56where to look.
15:58Now,
15:59if Earth
15:59were the size of a nickel,
16:01Neptune
16:01would be about as big
16:02as a baseball.
16:04That's impressive.
16:05But it's nothing
16:06compared to the giant
16:07ninth planet
16:08that might be hiding out there.
16:10Now,
16:10our Planet 9's
16:11discovery saga
16:12might have finally
16:13come to an end.
16:14Turns out,
16:15the problem wasn't
16:16where we were looking,
16:17but how.
16:18And researchers
16:19might have just made
16:20the biggest solar system discovery
16:22in decades.
16:23You see,
16:24the idea of finding
16:25a planet beyond Neptune
16:26has been around
16:27for years now.
16:28I know,
16:29back in school,
16:30you probably learned
16:31that the ninth planet
16:32was Pluto.
16:33But forget about Pluto.
16:35It's been demoted
16:36to a less fancy category
16:37since 2006.
16:39What I'm talking about
16:40is the Planet 9.
16:42A hypothetical giant planet
16:44that could be
16:45our cosmic neighbor.
16:46We've never actually seen it,
16:48but scientists are pretty sure
16:50it's out there somewhere,
16:51hiding in the outer solar system.
16:54To explain why they think that,
16:56we need a sheet of paper.
16:57Hey,
16:58here's one.
16:58We place a coin on it,
17:00and suddenly,
17:01it starts to move.
17:02Unless we're talking about
17:04some kind of superpower,
17:05there's no way
17:06this coin is moving
17:07on its own, right?
17:08So,
17:09you figure,
17:10someone must be
17:11on the other side,
17:12holding a magnet
17:13and moving it around.
17:14You can't see the magnet,
17:16but it explains
17:17why the coin is moving.
17:18That's kind of
17:19what's happening
17:20with Planet 9.
17:21We can't see it,
17:22we can't prove it,
17:23yet,
17:24but its existence
17:25could explain
17:26the strange movements
17:27we see out there in space.
17:29For example,
17:30the planets
17:31in our solar system
17:32orbit on a flat plane
17:33that's tilted
17:34about 6 degrees
17:35relative to the sun.
17:37But why 6 degrees?
17:39Well,
17:39no one really knows for sure.
17:41Some scientists
17:42think those orbits
17:43might be slightly tilted
17:44because of the pull
17:45of a ninth planet.
17:46Its existence
17:47could also explain
17:48the unusual paths
17:50of smaller objects
17:51in the distant Kuiper belt,
17:53a region full of icy debris
17:55that stretches
17:56far beyond Neptune's orbit.
17:58Back in 2016,
18:00researchers from Caltech
18:01published a study
18:03about Planet 9.
18:04They suggested
18:05it could have a mass
18:06about 10 times
18:07that of Earth
18:08and follow
18:09a highly elongated path.
18:11That's a scientific way
18:12of saying it takes forever
18:13to make one trip
18:14around the sun.
18:15Because of that,
18:16it would be located
18:17in the outer solar system.
18:19I mean,
18:20far, far away.
18:21It would orbit the sun
18:22about 20 to 30 times
18:24farther out
18:25than our most distant planet,
18:27Neptune.
18:28According to scientists,
18:29Planet 9 would take
18:30up to 20,000 Earth years
18:32to complete
18:33just one full orbit
18:34around the sun.
18:35Since it's crazy far out there,
18:37it's almost impossible
18:38to see it.
18:39So,
18:40as cool as this hypothesis sounds,
18:42we've never found
18:43solid evidence
18:44that Planet 9
18:45actually exists.
18:47But,
18:47we might be pretty close.
18:49In May 2025,
18:51a team at
18:52National Tsinghua University
18:53might have made
18:55one of the most exciting
18:56solar system discoveries ever.
18:58Alright,
18:59so there's a hypothesis
19:00that Planet 9
19:01hasn't been discovered yet
19:03because we haven't been
19:04using the right method.
19:05This new study
19:06raises an interesting question.
19:08What if Planet 9
19:10actually looks brighter
19:11in infrared light
19:12than it does
19:13in visible light?
19:14Let me explain.
19:15Scientists have been trying
19:17to spot Planet 9
19:18by its reflected light.
19:19But,
19:20here's the problem.
19:21The spotted
19:22invisible wavelengths,
19:23sunlight would have to
19:24travel all the way out
19:25to Planet 9,
19:27bounce off its surface,
19:28and then travel
19:29all the way back to Earth.
19:31If a Neptune-sized planet
19:32were about 10 times
19:33farther away than Neptune,
19:35it would look about
19:3610,000 times fainter.
19:38But a planet's own
19:39thermal radiation,
19:40I mean,
19:41its heat,
19:42only has to make
19:43a one-way trip.
19:44So,
19:44in infrared light,
19:45Planet 9
19:46would only be
19:47about 100 times fainter.
19:49That's why
19:49it makes more sense
19:50to look for it
19:51using space-based
19:52infrared telescopes.
19:54And that's the idea
19:55behind this new study.
19:56The team started
19:57digging through archives,
19:59searching for old
20:00infrared sky survey data.
20:02And they pulled it
20:03from two main sources.
20:04First,
20:05IRIS,
20:06a satellite launched
20:07in the 80s
20:07that scanned the sky
20:08for almost a year.
20:10Then,
20:11the Japanese satellite
20:12Akari,
20:13another infrared observatory
20:14that operated
20:15between 2006
20:16and 2011.
20:18So,
20:19basically,
20:19they compared objects
20:20that showed up
20:21in IRIS database
20:22and noticed
20:23which ones had moved
20:24by the time Akari
20:26took its observations.
20:27And by doing that,
20:29the researchers found
20:30something incredible.
20:31An object that might
20:32just be
20:33our long-lost
20:34ninth planet.
20:35Because if something moves,
20:37it could be a planet
20:38orbiting the sun,
20:39right?
20:39And yeah,
20:40they did find
20:41some celestial objects
20:43showing tiny movements.
20:44But before jumping
20:45to conclusions,
20:46they had to rule out
20:47the parallax effect.
20:49And that's something
20:50really important
20:50when we're talking
20:51about solar system discoveries.
20:53To explain it,
20:54I need you to do something.
20:56Hold one finger
20:57in front of your face,
20:58close one eye,
21:00and now switch.
21:01Your finger seems
21:02to move a tiny bit,
21:03right?
21:03That's because you're
21:04looking at it
21:05from a slightly different angle,
21:07from one eyeball
21:08to the other.
21:09The same thing happens
21:10when we look out
21:11into space from Earth.
21:12Since our planet
21:14orbits the sun,
21:14our view
21:15of very distant objects
21:17shifts just a little.
21:18That effect
21:19is called parallax.
21:21My point is,
21:22because of this effect,
21:23planet 9 would appear
21:24to move across the sky
21:26as Earth goes
21:27around the sun.
21:28On any given day,
21:29it might seem
21:30to be in one spot.
21:31But six months later,
21:33when Earth is on
21:33the opposite side
21:34of the sun,
21:35it would look
21:36like it shifted.
21:37Six months after that,
21:39it would seem
21:39to move back again.
21:41Scientists had to
21:42account for parallax.
21:43Actually,
21:44they had to remove
21:45its effects.
21:46So the team looked
21:47at images of the sky
21:48taken on the same date
21:50every year.
21:51Because on that same date,
21:52Earth is always
21:53in the same spot
21:54in its orbit.
21:55That means,
21:56if planet 9 is real,
21:58it would show up
21:59in the same place
22:00in those images
22:00every year.
22:02No fake wiggle
22:03from parallax,
22:04just its real position.
22:06This careful search
22:07led them to a single object,
22:09a tiny dot
22:10in the infrared data.
22:11This strange little spot
22:13had moved slightly
22:14along its orbit
22:15around the sun
22:16over the 23 years
22:17between Iris and Icari.
22:19Wait,
22:20could that be it?
22:22Did astronomers
22:22just confirm
22:23a hidden planet?
22:24Well,
22:25maybe.
22:26But don't get too excited.
22:28The data we have
22:29on its motion
22:30over that time
22:30is not enough
22:32to figure out
22:33its full orbit.
22:34So,
22:35for now,
22:35we still can't say
22:36for sure
22:37if this mysterious object
22:38is really planet 9.
22:40It's definitely
22:41a strong candidate,
22:42though.
22:43Based on how bright
22:44the object appears,
22:45the team estimates
22:46it could be pretty massive.
22:48And that came
22:49as a big surprise.
22:51You see,
22:51previous NASA research
22:53ruled out
22:53any Jupiter-sized
22:54or Saturn-sized planets
22:56hiding out there.
22:57But a smaller world
22:58would have gone undetected.
23:00So,
23:01the scientists
23:01were looking
23:02for something
23:02just a bit bigger
23:03than Earth.
23:04But it turns out
23:05this mysterious planet
23:06might be more massive
23:08than Neptune.
23:08Now that they've
23:10discovered Planet 9,
23:11supposedly,
23:12at least,
23:13the plan is to
23:14keep tracking it
23:14and collecting new data.
23:16But don't think
23:17the road ahead
23:17will be easy.
23:19Because since
23:19the Akari satellite
23:20spotted it
23:21for the first time,
23:22that object
23:23didn't just sit still.
23:25It's been moving
23:25slowly through space
23:26ever since.
23:28So now,
23:28scientists need to
23:29use regular telescopes
23:30on Earth
23:31to look for it again.
23:32And here's
23:33the tricky part.
23:34They're not exactly
23:35sure where it moved to.
23:37So they have to
23:38search a pretty big
23:39patch of the sky.
23:40And so far,
23:41no matching object
23:42has been found.
23:44Whether this really
23:45turns out to be
23:46the Planet 9 discovery
23:47or not,
23:48only time will tell.
23:49For now,
23:50its existence
23:51is still up for debate.
23:52But with powerful
23:53new technology
23:54on the way,
23:55like NASA's
23:56Nancy Grace Roman
23:57Space Telescope,
23:58astronomers are
23:59more determined
24:00than ever
24:00to uncover the truth.
24:01And if Planet 9
24:03really is out there,
24:05hiding in the
24:06cold, dark edges
24:07of our solar system,
24:08it's running out
24:09of places to hide.
24:11So,
24:12we might be getting
24:13closer to finding
24:14a massive, icy planet
24:15beyond Neptune's orbit.
24:17Sorry, Pluto,
24:18still not you.
24:19Recently,
24:20some universe mapping
24:21using data
24:22from a telescope
24:23in Hawaii
24:23eliminated
24:24about 78%
24:26of the possible
24:27locations
24:27for this mysterious
24:29Waldo from space.
24:30Some people
24:31call it Planet 9,
24:33while others
24:33prefer Planet X.
24:35Either way,
24:36it's been causing
24:37controversy
24:37since its existence
24:39was first proposed.
24:40And that is mainly
24:41because no study
24:43so far
24:43can answer
24:44the big question,
24:45does it really exist?
24:47If discovered,
24:48Planet 9
24:49would rank
24:49as the fifth largest
24:50planet in our solar system,
24:52with a mass
24:53ten times
24:54that of Earth.
24:55It's also theorized
24:56to be gaseous,
24:57like Uranus.
24:59The initial study
25:00on Planet 9
25:01dating back
25:02to 2016
25:02suggests that
25:04this colossal
25:05new planet
25:05orbits the Sun
25:0629 times
25:08farther out
25:08than Neptune,
25:09which sits
25:10at about
25:102.8 billion miles.
25:12As a result,
25:14the Planet 9
25:15would take
25:15between 10,000
25:17and 20,000 years
25:18to complete
25:18a single orbit
25:19around the Sun.
25:20If confirmed,
25:22this yet-to-be-understood
25:23world
25:23would dominate
25:24a region larger
25:25than any other
25:26known planet
25:27in our cosmic neighborhood.
25:29These are all
25:30intriguing hypotheses,
25:32but without
25:33a single piece
25:33of evidence
25:34or observation
25:35to back them up.
25:36Before dismissing
25:38this as a wild guess,
25:39it is important
25:40to note
25:41that these researchers
25:42relied on
25:43complex mathematical
25:44modeling
25:45and computer simulations
25:46to speculate
25:47about the planet's
25:48characteristics,
25:49because that's
25:50what they do.
25:51The hypothetical
25:52presence of this planet
25:53would explain
25:54various mysterious
25:55features located
25:56beyond Neptune.
25:57We are specifically
25:59talking about
26:00the Kuiper Belt,
26:01a huge donut-shaped
26:02region filled
26:03with icy debris
26:05left over
26:05from the formation
26:06of the solar system,
26:07including comets
26:09and dwarf planets
26:10like Pluto.
26:11What happens
26:12is that the six
26:13farthest objects
26:14in the Kuiper Belt
26:15exhibit elliptical orbits
26:17that are all oriented
26:18in a similar direction
26:19within physical space
26:21and tilted
26:21approximately
26:2230 degrees downward
26:23relative to the
26:24orbital plane
26:25of our eight known planets.
26:27What's strange here
26:28is that despite
26:29their distinct
26:30orbital velocities
26:31around the solar system,
26:33they maintain
26:34this alignment.
26:35The likelihood
26:36of such alignment
26:36occurring randomly
26:38is extremely low,
26:39around 0.007%.
26:42So here comes
26:44Planet 9,
26:44a hypothetical
26:45massive celestial body
26:47that offers
26:48a plausible explanation
26:49for this strange phenomenon,
26:51potentially exerting
26:53gravitational influence
26:54to shape these orbits.
26:57The initial theory
26:58didn't hold up
26:59for long,
27:00facing accusations
27:01of observational bias
27:03and calculation errors.
27:04Then,
27:05in 2017,
27:07another study
27:07popped up,
27:08sparking back
27:09the idea
27:10that maybe
27:10Planet 9
27:11is out there
27:12after all.
27:13This time,
27:14Spanish astronomers
27:15tried a novel approach,
27:17focusing on observing
27:18extreme
27:19trans-Neptunian objects.
27:21These celestial bodies
27:22orbit the Sun
27:23run in highly stretched
27:24elliptical paths,
27:26with average distances
27:27exceeding 13 billion miles.
27:30The research suggests
27:31that the distances
27:32between these objects' nodes
27:33and the Sun
27:34might provide clues
27:35to Planet 9's location.
27:37You see,
27:38these nodes
27:39are the points
27:40where a celestial body's orbit
27:42intersects
27:42the solar system's plane.
27:44When these objects
27:45reach these points,
27:46they're more likely
27:47to interact
27:48with other solar system bodies,
27:50potentially causing
27:51significant changes
27:52in their orbits
27:53or even collisions.
27:55So,
27:55if the trajectory
27:56of these extreme
27:57trans-Neptunian objects
27:59remains stable,
28:00everything's fine.
28:01But,
28:02if it's not,
28:03well,
28:03that's a sign
28:04that something else,
28:05something big,
28:06is messing with their path.
28:08And that's exactly
28:09what the research found.
28:11There is something
28:12unseen out there,
28:14throwing these objects
28:15off course.
28:16And that something
28:17could be a planet
28:18chilling at a distance
28:19between 300 to 400 times
28:21farther from the Sun
28:23than Earth.
28:24To this day,
28:25the study of the extreme
28:26trans-Neptunian objects
28:28is the strongest evidence
28:29we've got
28:30for Planet 9's existence.
28:32And if you're still
28:33not convinced
28:34by this theory,
28:35know that strange motions
28:36like these
28:37have led to
28:38planetary discoveries before.
28:40Neptune,
28:41for instance,
28:41was spotted
28:42because Uranus' motion
28:44didn't quite agree
28:45with the predictions
28:46of Newtonian gravity.
28:47But,
28:48the deflection
28:48of its orbit
28:49could be explained
28:50if it was caused
28:51by a pull
28:52of an undiscovered planet.
28:54And,
28:55just like that,
28:55we discovered Neptune.
28:59Now,
29:00the year is 2021
29:01and there's all this buzz
29:02about Planet 9 again.
29:04After correcting
29:05some old guesses,
29:06studies are now leaning
29:08towards the idea
29:09that this mystery world
29:10follows an epic loop
29:12around the Sun
29:12every 7,000 years.
29:14That is massive news
29:16because it means
29:17this planet might be closer
29:19than we ever thought,
29:20making it easier
29:21for our telescopes
29:22to spot it.
29:23The paper also suggests
29:25there is a whopping
29:2699% chance
29:27that the funky orbits
29:29of these distant objects
29:30are all because
29:31of this unseen planet,
29:33not just some
29:34cosmic coincidence.
29:35Now,
29:36the odds of this
29:36whole situation
29:37being a fluke
29:38are down to
29:39a 1 in 250 chance,
29:41which is much better
29:43than the 1 in 10,000 chance
29:45back in 2016.
29:48All these optimistic numbers
29:49have brought us
29:50to where we are today,
29:51keeping our hopes
29:53and working on
29:53better equipment
29:54to continue the mission
29:55of spotting Planet 9.
29:57As mentioned earlier,
29:59researchers in Hawaii
30:00created some kind
30:01of treasure map
30:02utilizing the Panoramic
30:04Survey Telescope
30:05and Rapid Response System
30:07to eliminate 78%
30:09of its locations.
30:10This is great news,
30:11considering how challenging
30:13it is to find
30:14a planet-sized needle
30:15in a cosmic haystack.
30:16But, unfortunately,
30:19Planet 9's presence
30:20remains a ghost
30:21in the dark outer reaches
30:23of our solar system.
30:24Enthusiasts are still
30:26convinced of its existence
30:27and believe
30:28it is only a matter of time
30:29before we celebrate
30:31the discovery
30:31of Earth's new cosmic cousin.
30:33They're putting their hopes
30:35on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory,
30:37which is currently
30:38under construction in Chile
30:39and is scheduled
30:40to begin science operations
30:42in late 2025.
30:44Over the course of 10 years,
30:46this observatory
30:47will scan the entire
30:48southern hemisphere sky
30:49every few nights
30:51with a 27-foot,
30:53fast-moving telescope
30:54equipped with the largest
30:55digital camera in the world.
30:57The idea is to catalogue
30:59everything in the solar system,
31:01reaching out to
31:02and beyond Neptune,
31:03and tracking the movements
31:04of millions of celestial objects,
31:06including space junk,
31:08asteroids, comets, and stars.
31:10If Planet 9 is indeed out there,
31:13this next-generation telescope
31:15could be the one to find it.
31:18The existence of this
31:20mysterious planet
31:21is far from being
31:22universally accepted
31:23in the scientific community.
31:25That is simply because
31:26planet 9
31:27isn't the only explanation
31:29for the strange phenomenon
31:30occurring beyond Neptune.
31:32One theory suggests
31:33that a group of distant objects,
31:35such as dwarf planets,
31:37comets, and moons,
31:39might be collectively
31:40influencing the orbits
31:41of the extreme
31:42trans-Neptunian objects.
31:44Others believe that a black hole
31:46is behind all this.
31:47These compressed masses
31:49are some of the densest objects
31:50in the universe,
31:51potentially capable of affecting
31:53the orbits of other masses,
31:54like how this supposed ghost
31:56Planet 9
31:57is believed to be doing.
32:00Another bold perspective
32:02suggests that our current
32:03understanding of the laws
32:04of gravity is flawed,
32:06actually incomplete.
32:08This theory,
32:09known as
32:10Modified Newtonian Dynamics,
32:12proposes that these
32:13distant icy objects
32:14exhibit strange behavior,
32:17not due to influence
32:18from another planet,
32:19but rather because
32:20the immense gravitational field
32:22of the Milky Way
32:23is influencing them.
32:24However,
32:25even supporters
32:26of this theory
32:27acknowledge that
32:28it is too early
32:29to draw firm conclusions,
32:31and much more extensive
32:32research is still required.
32:35While we continue
32:37our relentless hunt
32:38for Planet 9,
32:39some astronomers
32:40have taken it
32:41a step further,
32:42suggesting the existence
32:43of a hypothetical
32:45Planet 10.
32:46This world has a mass
32:47and size like that
32:49of Mars or Earth,
32:50and is located
32:51on the edges
32:51of the Kuiper belt.
32:53But the thing is,
32:54if this alleged Planet 10
32:56is indeed as small
32:57as scientists believe,
32:59it might not have
33:00enough gravity
33:00to clear its orbit
33:01of debris.
33:02And that is pretty similar
33:04to what happens
33:04with Pluto,
33:05being one of the reasons
33:07why it got into trouble
33:08back in 2006.
33:10So yeah,
33:11it's better not
33:12to get too excited.
33:13This supposed Planet 10
33:15might end up classified
33:16as another dwarf planet.
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