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For thousands of years, a mysterious Sumerian tablet may have preserved knowledge of a planet modern astronomy still struggles to explain. Its strange celestial symbols appear to point toward a massive hidden world beyond the known planets. And if the interpretation is correct, the Sumerians may have known about Planet X long before we ever began searching for it.
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00:02What if an ancient civilization described a planet that astronomers are only now beginning
00:08to search for? Thousands of years before telescopes existed, the Sumerians carved
00:15detailed astronomical symbols onto clay tablets. Most historians believe these tablets describe
00:21religious beliefs and observations of the night sky. But one group of ancient inscriptions
00:27has become the center of one of history's biggest mysteries because some researchers believe it
00:33may reference a hidden world beyond the known planets. Today, that mystery has returned for one
00:40reason. Modern astronomers are once again searching for a massive undiscovered planet at the edge of
00:47our solar system. The story begins in ancient Mesopotamia more than 5,000 years ago. The
00:55Sumerians developed one of humanity's first writing systems, built advanced cities, tracked
01:01the movements of the sun, moon, and visible planets, and recorded much of their knowledge
01:07on clay tablets. Among thousands of surviving tablets are astronomical texts and symbolic
01:14star maps that continue to be studied today. Most scholars interpret these texts as religious
01:21or observational records. But alternative researchers noticed something unusual. One particular seal,
01:29often called VA-243, appears to show a large central star surrounded by multiple circular objects.
01:37Supporters of the Planet X theory argue that the carving represents the solar system and includes
01:43an additional planet unknown to modern astronomy at the time. Mainstream Assyriologists disagree.
01:51Most experts believe the symbols are not a scientific map at all, and that the circles represent stars,
01:58or decorative religious imagery, rather than planets. But the theory refused to disappear. Instead,
02:05it became connected to another mysterious name, Nibiru. According to later alternative interpretations,
02:13Nibiru is a massive hidden planet, following an extremely elongated orbit around the sun.
02:20Some versions of the theory claim it returns to the inner solar system every several thousand years,
02:26and was associated with the mysterious Anunnaki described in Sumerian mythology. There is no scientific
02:34evidence supporting those claims. But then astronomy introduced an unexpected twist. In 2016, astronomers
02:43Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown proposed the existence of an undiscovered world far beyond Neptune,
02:50after noticing something strange about several distant icy objects. Instead of moving randomly,
02:57their orbits appeared clustered in ways that should be statistically unlikely.
03:02One possible explanation was gravity from an unseen planet. Researchers estimate that if this object
03:09exists, it could be between 5 and 10 times the mass of Earth, and orbit hundreds of astronomical units
03:16from the sun. At that distance, it would take somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 years to complete a
03:23single orbit. Because it would reflect almost no sunlight, finding it directly is extremely difficult.
03:31That is why astronomers continue searching today. NASA has repeatedly stated that Planet 9 remains
03:38a hypothesis, not a confirmed discovery. No telescope has directly observed the planet,
03:45and several competing explanations exist for the unusual orbital patterns seen beyond Neptune. Even so,
03:53new surveys continue narrowing the search area. Powerful observatories such as the Subaru
03:59telescope in Hawaii and the recently launched Vera C. Rubin Observatory are expected to dramatically
04:06improve the search for distant solar system objects over the coming years. And every new update brings the
04:13Planet X story back into the headlines. Supporters of the Nibiru theory argue that ancient civilizations
04:20somehow knew about the hidden planet long before modern astronomy. Scientists disagree. There is no accepted
04:29evidence that Sumerian tablets describe Planet 9, Nibiru, or any undiscovered world. But there is one coincidence
04:38that continues to fascinate people. Ancient texts speak about mysterious celestial bodies connected with powerful
04:46beings from the heavens. Modern astronomers are genuinely searching for a large unseen planet hidden in the
04:54darkness beyond Neptune. The two stories are completely unrelated according to mainstream science. Yet every time
05:02astronomers discover another unusual object in the outer solar system, people return to those ancient clay
05:09tablets looking for answers. And perhaps that is why the mystery has survived for thousands of years. Not because
05:18anyone has proven that Planet X exists, but because both archaeology and astronomy continue pointing toward the
05:25same place. A vast region of our solar system that humanity still knows remarkably little about.
05:41A massive hidden planet may be moving somewhere beyond Neptune right now. Scientists still
05:48haven't seen it directly. But multiple studies suggest something enormous is affecting the outer solar system through
05:55gravity alone. And immediately, one ancient name started spreading online again. Nibiru. According to one of the most
06:05controversial theories on the internet, Nibiru is a hidden planet connected to the mysterious Anunnaki,
06:12powerful beings described in ancient Sumerian texts thousands of years ago. Some people believe this
06:20object periodically enters the inner solar system and that ancient civilizations may have known about it long
06:26before modern astronomy existed. Normally, theories like this would be ignored completely. But the problem is
06:35that astronomers really are searching for an undiscovered planet right now. The story starts far beyond Pluto,
06:43in the outer edges of the solar system. Over the last several years, scientists noticed something strange
06:50about the orbits of distant icy objects beyond Neptune. Instead of moving randomly, several objects appeared
06:59clustered together in ways that suggested the gravity of a much larger unseen body might be affecting them.
07:06This eventually led researchers to propose the existence of a possible hidden world known as Planet Nine.
07:14Some estimates suggest this object, if it exists, could be between 5 and 10 times more massive than Earth
07:20and orbit hundreds of times farther from the Sun than our planet does. At that distance, it would reflect
07:28almost no sunlight, making direct detection extremely difficult even for modern telescopes. And that is
07:36exactly why the Nibiru theory exploded again online. Because according to older alternative theories,
07:43ancient civilizations already knew about a hidden planet long before scientists started discussing Planet Nine.
07:51The civilization most often connected to this mystery is the Sumerians. More than 5,000 years ago,
07:58the Sumerians built one of the earliest advanced civilizations in human history in Mesopotamia.
08:05They developed writing, mathematics, astronomy, large cities, and detailed mythological systems.
08:14Within many of their ancient stories appear references to powerful beings called the Anunnaki.
08:21Mainstream historians interpret the Anunnaki as mythological deities connected to creation stories, kingship,
08:28and religion. But alternative interpretations claim these beings came from the sky and were associated
08:36with a wandering planet called Nibiru. According to the theory, the Anunnaki periodically traveled between
08:42Earth and this hidden world. The idea became especially popular because of certain ancient carvings and symbols.
08:49Some Sumerian artwork appears to show celestial patterns, unusual objects, and star imagery that internet
08:58theories often describe as evidence of advanced astronomical knowledge. One of the most famous
09:04examples involves the so-called Sumerian bags, strange handheld objects carved into stone reliefs
09:11thousands of years ago. Similar shapes also appear in unrelated ancient cultures, which only made the
09:19mystery grow online. Supporters of the Nibiru theory claim these symbols represent lost knowledge connected
09:27to the Anunnaki. The most extreme versions of the story go even further. Some claim the
09:33Anunnaki genetically altered early humans, helped build early civilizations, or left encoded astronomical
09:41information hidden inside myths and ancient texts. There is no scientific evidence supporting those claims.
09:49But what makes the theory difficult to completely dismiss online is the strange overlap between ancient
09:56mythology and modern astronomy. Because scientists really are searching for a large unseen object,
10:03in the outer solar system. And every time new research about planet 9 appears, the internet immediately
10:11reconnects it to Nibiru. At the same time, astronomers continue finding unusual objects beyond Neptune.
10:19Some dwarf planets and icy bodies follow orbits that still do not have perfect explanations.
10:27Researchers believe a hidden planet remains one possible answer. Powerful observatories are currently scanning deep
10:35space, searching for faint movement patterns that could finally reveal whether planet 9 exists.
10:42So far, nothing matching the dramatic descriptions of Nibiru has ever been confirmed. No giant rogue planet is heading
10:51toward Earth. No evidence of extraterrestrial visitors has been discovered in ancient Mesopotamia.
10:58But the theory refuses to disappear for one reason. An ancient civilization described powerful beings
11:05descending from the heavens. Modern astronomers believe another massive world may still be hidden
11:11somewhere in the darkness beyond Neptune. And for millions of people online, those two stories
11:18became connected in a way that is now impossible to separate.
11:26Across millennia, scattered among clay tablets, sacred scrolls, and whispered myths,
11:34humanity has preserved haunting tales of a celestial anomaly. A rogue planet, a cosmic saboteur,
11:43whose rare appearance heralds disaster and upheaval. The Sumerians called it Nibiru, the planet of crossing.
11:52Egyptians feared it as the destroyer. Biblical texts knew it as the wormwood star. Are these merely the
11:59colorful myths of ancient peoples? Or are they fragmented memories of an all-too-real cosmic threat?
12:07Modern science, once quick to dismiss such legends, is now forced to reconsider.
12:13In 2016, astronomers Constantin Battigan and Mike Brown from Caltech presented mathematical evidence
12:19suggesting the existence of a massive planet at the far edge of our solar system, Planet Nine.
12:26Their calculations describe a world five to ten times the mass of Earth, on a highly elongated orbit
12:34that takes between 10,000 and 20,000 years to complete a single revolution around the Sun.
12:41Here's where ancient myth and modern astrophysics begin to blur. Sumerian cuneiform tablets,
12:48dating as far back as the fourth millennium BCE, contain astonishingly accurate astronomical data.
12:56They describe a solar system of 12 celestial bodies, including a mysterious 12th planet, Nibiru.
13:05How did ancient people know about Neptune, discovered only in 1846, or Pluto in 1930?
13:13Were they simply guessing, or did they remember something we've forgotten?
13:18One of the most controversial voices in this debate is researcher Zechariah Sitchin.
13:24He spent decades interpreting ancient Mesopotamian texts and proposed a radical theory
13:31that Nibiru is a habitable world with a sweeping elliptical orbit,
13:37home to an advanced race known as the Anunnaki, beings who once visited Earth.
13:43The Earth's first-century myth. Mainstream academia has rejected Sitchin's translations,
13:48but the uncanny parallels between his claims and recent astronomical findings are hard to ignore.
13:56Let's focus on what the data tells us. Something is warping the orbits of distant objects in the
14:03Earth. A vast icy region beyond Neptune. These objects behave as if being shepherded by a massive, unseen force.
14:14The dwarf planet Sedna, for example, follows a wildly unusual orbit that can't be explained by known
14:22gravitational influences. And then there's the Kuiper Cliff, an abrupt drop-off in the number of objects
14:30beyond 50 astronomical units. What's causing it? Something or someone? These anomalies have left
14:39astronomers scratching their heads and have fueled growing speculation that a massive, unseen planet
14:47is hiding in the dark outskirts of our solar system. Ancient texts from multiple civilizations
14:56describe apocalyptic upheavals linked to a celestial intruder. The Egyptian Ipuer Papyrus eerily recounts
15:06plagues and chaos. The river is blood. The Earth turned upside down. Days are shrouded in darkness.
15:14The Babylonian Epic of Era speaks of a time when the stars left their appointed paths.
15:21These aren't just poetic metaphors. They're historical shockwaves echoing from a forgotten trauma.
15:30So what happens if Nibiru, or Planet Nine, makes its next approach? Even without a direct collision,
15:38the consequences could be catastrophic. Its gravity might tilt Earth's axis, triggering sudden climate
15:46shifts. It could awaken tectonic fault lines and stir dormant volcanoes. Disturbed asteroid belts might send
15:55deadly space rocks hurtling toward us. It could disrupt our magnetosphere, disabling electronics and satellites.
16:04But perhaps the most chilling aspect of this theory is the cycle. Sumerian texts suggest that Nibiru
16:11returns roughly every 3600 years. If this is true, its last passage might have occurred around 1600 BCE.
16:21A time curiously aligned with the collapse of Bronze Age civilizations, a period marked by mass migrations,
16:29natural disasters and inexplicable cultural decline. Was this coincidence or consequence?
16:38The clock might be ticking again. Today, the hunt for Planet Nine continues using the world's most
16:46powerful telescopes and cutting edge simulations. We stand on the edge of either confirming the greatest
16:54myth ever told, or revealing that ancient peoples tried, in the only language they had, to warn us.
17:03It may not bear the name Nibiru. It may not carry golden tablets or alien emissaries.
17:09But if it exists, its return will reshape everything we think we know about history,
17:16science, and our place in the cosmos.
17:19One thing is certain, our solar system is far from tamed. It harbors secrets in its coldest,
17:27darkest corners. Riddles older than civilization itself. And perhaps, just perhaps, the old stories
17:35were never stories at all. Maybe they were prophecies. Maybe they were the echo of survivors.
17:42Maybe the star of change is already on its way.
17:51Attention Earthlings! Yes, that would include you. Scientists have discovered a new member of the
17:57solar system. We officially have a new dwarf planet orbiting well beyond Neptune. But that's not all.
18:04Despite being small and unremarkable, this object, called 2017 OF-201 – I know it's a goofy name – might
18:12hold the key information about the speculated existence of Planet 9. Or, better said, it spoils
18:19the fun because instead of helping us find Planet 9. It could be the first tangible evidence that the
18:25theoretical ninth major planet was just that, a theory. But first, what exactly are dwarf planets?
18:33And why is this discovery so important? Well, in the early 21st century, researchers
18:40gained better telescopes and began discovering smaller, weirder celestial objects. It started with
18:46Eris in 2003. But the discovery of additional similar bodies led to Pluto losing its status as a
18:53quote, true planet. To proudly carry the name of a planet, a space rock must check off three boxes.
19:00It must orbit the sun, not another planet, like a moon would. It must be massive enough for its
19:06gravity to make it round. And it needs to be gravitationally dominant in its orbit. In other words,
19:12an object should be able to clear out most other objects in its path by absorbing them, slinging them
19:18away or influencing them in some other way. Like paying them off. Hey, just kidding.
19:24Imagine a giant, powerful truck driving in its own lane, pushing smaller cars aside. Hey,
19:30sounds like my commute. Although Pluto is orbiting the sun and has the needed elliptical appearance,
19:36it's in the Kuiper belt, a region full of icy objects. Because it can't clear its orbit, researchers
19:43realized that Pluto was not that different from many other similar bodies known as trans-Neptunian
19:49objects or TNOs. There are well over 5000 known TNOs out there, with only 1000 being officially numbered.
19:57Meaning, they've been studied enough to have their orbits confirmed. Now here's where it gets
20:02interesting. A while ago, scientists noted a pattern. Many of these minor planets shared similar
20:08paths and tilts. This inspired a theory that those objects were influenced by some still undiscovered
20:15Planet 9, also known as Planet X. The proposed super-Earth would have a mass 5 to 10 times
20:21greater than Earth's. It would orbit far on the outskirts, possibly as far as 500 astronomical units,
20:28and like an invisible puppeteer, manipulate the orbits of TNOs with its gravity. Some of these
20:35objects get classified as extreme trans-Neptunian objects. Let's just call them ETNOs for short.
20:42ETNOs are minor planets with an average distance of at least 150 astronomical units from the Sun.
20:49They have eccentric orbits, which can't be explained by the gravity of Neptune, Uranus,
20:54Saturn, or Jupiter. This led some scientists to conclude that Planet X must be out there.
21:00Ooh. As the years went by and more and more TNOs were discovered, scientists began to notice that
21:07those newly found objects didn't follow the previously established patterns. Many TNOs and ETNOs
21:14discovered in the last five to six years didn't match the same orbital parameters. Of the 6,000 objects
21:20found orbiting beyond 30 AU from the Sun, many show no signs of being influenced by a hidden planet.
21:28Well, despite that, scientists still hesitate to admit that Planet X is just wishful thinking. Not
21:34only is discovering something new exciting, but a planet like that could also protect us by pulling
21:40in asteroids from deep space. It could help explain why our solar system looks so different from many
21:47others, where super-Earths and mini-Neptunes are common. It might even solve how the solar system was
21:53formed, how objects got scattered, and what's still hiding in the dark. Discovering Planet 9 wouldn't
22:00just be cool. It could reshape everything we know about the solar system. However, with the discovery of
22:072017 OF201… Actually, that's still a mouthful. Let's call it OFI from now on. With the discovery of OFI,
22:15the whole Planet 9 theory seems to be on its last legs. So, what makes OFI so special? And how
22:21does it
22:21affect the idea behind Planet 9? The newly discovered member of our solar system
22:27is estimated to be about 430 miles in diameter. This places it in the dwarf planet category,
22:34certainly larger than many other trans-Neptunian objects, but still about one-third the size of
22:40Pluto. What stands out most is its elongated orbit around the Sun. It takes at least 25,000 years to
22:47complete one revolution. Its orbit brings it as close as about 45 astronomical units from the Sun,
22:54which is similar to Pluto's distance, and extends out as far as 1600 AU at its most distant point.
23:01This means it travels far beyond the Kuiper belt and approaches the inner boundary of the Oort cloud.
23:08This orbit is not just extremely long, it's also highly eccentric, stretched out like a long oval.
23:15This puts it in a rare group of objects that travel to the most distant parts of our solar system.
23:20While there are objects with longer orbital periods, like comets that originate from the Oort cloud,
23:26they're much smaller than this newly discovered dwarf planet.
23:30But despite its relatively large size for such a distant object, ORFI is nearly undetectable. It
23:37spends most of its time hidden from Earth's view, far from the inner solar system, and too faint for
23:43current telescopes to spot. In fact, astronomers estimate it's only visible for about one percent
23:49of its 25,000-year orbit. In fact, this new dwarf planet came closest to the Sun in 1930,
23:56the same year Pluto was discovered, yet it slipped away unnoticed. Nobody spotted it back then, and it
24:04only got discovered in May 2025 completely by accident. By digging through archived data from publicly
24:11available telescopes, researchers pieced together its location from 19 separate images taken over seven
24:17years. That's impressive detective work. So, what does all of this mean for Planet X?
24:24The archived photos have revealed that this object's orbit does not match any of the orbital clustering
24:30previously used to support the Planet 9 hypothesis. It doesn't belong to the same group as other ETNOs,
24:37and more importantly, if a hidden planet is really tugging on celestial bodies, ORFI should have been
24:44flung out of the solar system millions of years ago. If Planet 9 was where we speculated and had the
24:50predicted mass, then ORFI's current orbit wouldn't last. It would likely be altered or even destroyed
24:56within about 100 million years. However, its orbit appears stable and undisturbed, suggesting it has been like
25:04this for far longer. But wait, you exclaim. If the mysterious orbit of OFI is not caused by an invisible
25:12giant planet, what else could it be? Well, space is full of surprises, and gravity isn't exclusive to
25:19planets. One idea is that the orbit has been stretched over time by galactic tides. Just like the Moon pulls
25:26on
25:26Earth's oceans, the Milky Way galaxy itself pulls ever so gently on everything in the solar system.
25:33It's a slow, steady force. But if you're far out enough, like OFI is, even that gentle tug can twist
25:40your orbit
25:41over millions of years. Now, another possible explanation could be that a passing star may have come to our solar
25:49system a long time ago, especially during its formation. Back when the Sun was young and surrounded
25:55by newborn stars, one could have passed close enough to give some outer objects a gravitational
26:01nudge. That kind of flyby could have easily yanked an icy object into a stretched-out, tilted orbit.
26:08The third idea is that such unusual orbits are leftovers from the early solar system, when planets and
26:15debris were being flung all over the place. Some may have ended up in stable but extreme orbits,
26:21like OFI, the dwarf planet. If something really is pulling on these distant objects from outside our
26:28solar system, something like the galaxy itself, then we lack models to explain it. It's remarkable that
26:34we've managed to spot OFI in the first place. These objects only appear when close to the Sun, so we've
26:40likely seen just a fraction of what's out there. There could be hundreds or even thousands
26:45of similar rocks, all with strange orbits and mysterious origins. Which means the real mystery
26:52might not be a hidden planet, but the hidden world of space rocks quietly orbiting in the dark,
26:59waiting to be found. Now, if Earth were the size of a nickel, Neptune would be about as big as
27:05a
27:05baseball. That's impressive. But it's nothing compared to the giant ninth planet that might be hiding out
27:12there. Now, our planet 9's discovery saga might have finally come to an end. Turns out, the problem
27:18wasn't where we were looking, but how. And researchers might have just made the biggest
27:23solar system discovery in decades. You see, the idea of finding a planet beyond Neptune has been
27:30around for years now. I know, back in school, you probably learned that the ninth planet was Pluto.
27:35Pluto. But forget about Pluto. It's been demoted to a less fancy category since 2006. What I'm talking
27:42about is the Planet 9. A hypothetical giant planet that could be our cosmic neighbor. We've never
27:49actually seen it, but scientists are pretty sure it's out there somewhere, hiding in the outer solar
27:56system. To explain why they think that, we need a sheet of paper. Hey, here's one! We place a coin
28:02on it,
28:02and suddenly, it starts to move. Unless we're talking about some kind of superpower, there's no
28:08way this coin is moving on its own, right? So, you figure, someone must be on the other side,
28:14holding a magnet and moving it around. You can't see the magnet, but it explains why the coin is
28:20moving. That's kind of what's happening with Planet 9. We can't see it, we can't prove it, yet, but its
28:27existence could explain the strange movements we see out there in space. For example, the planets in
28:33our solar system orbit on a flat plane that's tilted about six degrees relative to the sun. But why six
28:41degrees? Well, no one really knows for sure. Some scientists think those orbits might be slightly
28:46tilted because of the pull of a ninth planet. Its existence could also explain the unusual paths of
28:53smaller objects in the distant Kuiper belt, a region full of icy debris that stretches far beyond Neptune's
29:00orbit. Back in 2016, researchers from Caltech published a study about Planet 9. They suggested it could have
29:08a mass about 10 times that of Earth and follow a highly elongated path. That's a scientific way of saying
29:15it takes forever to make one trip around the sun. Because of that, it would be located in the outer
29:21solar system. I mean, far, far away. It would orbit the sun about 20 to 30 times farther out than
29:28our
29:28most distant planet, Neptune. According to scientists, Planet 9 would take up to 20,000 Earth years to
29:35complete just one full orbit around the sun. Since it's crazy far out there, it's almost impossible to see it.
29:42So, as cool as this hypothesis sounds, we've never found solid evidence that Planet 9 actually exists.
29:49But we might be pretty close. In May 2025, a team at National Tsinghua University might have made one
29:57of the most exciting solar system discoveries ever. Alright, so there's a hypothesis that Planet 9
30:04hasn't been discovered yet because we haven't been using the right method. This new study raises an
30:10interesting question. What if Planet 9 actually looks brighter in infrared light than it does
30:15in visible light? Let me explain. Scientists have been trying to spot Planet 9 by its reflected light.
30:22But here's the problem. To spot it in visible wavelengths, sunlight would have to travel all
30:27the way out to Planet 9, bounce off its surface, and then travel all the way back to Earth. If
30:34a
30:34Neptune-sized planet were about 10 times farther away than Neptune, it would look about 10,000 times
30:40fainter. But a planet's own thermal radiation, I mean its heat, only has to make a one-way trip.
30:46So in infrared light, Planet 9 would only be about 100 times fainter. That's why it makes more sense to
30:53look for it using space-based infrared telescopes. And that's the idea behind this new study. The team
31:00started digging through archives, searching for old infrared sky survey data. And they pulled it
31:05from two main sources. First, IRIS, a satellite launched in the 80s that scanned the sky for
31:11almost a year. Then, the Japanese satellite Akari, another infrared observatory that operated between
31:182006 and 2011. So basically, they compared objects that showed up in IRIS database and noticed which
31:26ones had moved by the time Akari took its observations. And by doing that, the researchers
31:32found something incredible. An object that might just be our long-lost ninth planet. Because if
31:39something moves, it could be a planet orbiting the Sun, right? And yeah, they did find some celestial
31:45objects showing tiny movements. But before jumping to conclusions, they had to rule out the parallax effect.
31:51And that's something really important when we're talking about solar system discoveries.
31:56To explain it, I need you to do something. Hold one finger in front of your face, close one eye,
32:02and now switch. Your finger seems to move a tiny bit, right? That's because you're looking at it from
32:08a slightly different angle, from one eyeball to the other. The same thing happens when we look out into
32:14space from Earth. Since our planet orbits the Sun, our view of very distant objects shifts just a little.
32:21That effect is called parallax. My point is, because of this effect, planet 9 would appear to move
32:27across the sky as Earth goes around the Sun. On any given day, it might seem to be in one
32:33spot.
32:34But six months later, when Earth is on the opposite side of the Sun, it would look like it shifted.
32:40Six months after that, it would seem to move back again. Scientists had to account for parallax.
32:46Actually, they had to remove its effects. So the team looked at images of the sky taken on the same
32:52date every year. Because on that same date, Earth is always in the same spot in its orbit. That means
32:59if planet 9 is real, it would show up in the same place in those images every year. No fake
33:05wiggle from
33:05parallax, just its real position. This careful search led them to a single object, a tiny dot in the infrared
33:13data. This strange little spot had moved slightly along its orbit around the Sun over the 23 years
33:20between Iris and Ikari. Wait, could that be it? Did astronomers just confirm a hidden planet?
33:27Well, maybe. But don't get too excited. The data we have on its motion over that time
33:33is not enough to figure out its full orbit. So for now, we still can't say for sure if this
33:40mysterious
33:40object is really planet 9. It's definitely a strong candidate, though. Based on how bright the
33:46object appears, the team estimates it could be pretty massive. And that came as a big surprise.
33:53You see, previous NASA research ruled out any Jupiter-sized or Saturn-sized planets hiding out
33:59there. But a smaller world would have gone undetected. So the scientists were looking for
34:04something just a bit bigger than Earth. But it turns out, this mysterious planet might be more
34:10massive than Neptune. Now that they've discovered planet 9, supposedly at least, the plan is to keep
34:16tracking it and collecting new data. But don't think the road ahead will be easy. Because since
34:22the Ikari satellite spotted it for the first time, that object didn't just sit still. It's been moving
34:28slowly through space ever since. So now, scientists need to use regular telescopes on Earth to look
34:34for it again. And here's the tricky part. They're not exactly sure where it moved to. So they have
34:40to search a pretty big patch of the sky. And so far, no matching object has been found. Whether this
34:47really turns out to be the Planet 9 discovery or not, only time will tell. For now, its existence is
34:53still up for debate. But with powerful new technology on the way, like NASA's Nancy Grace
34:59Roman Space Telescope, astronomers are more determined than ever to uncover the truth.
35:04And if Planet 9 really is out there, hiding in the cold, dark edges of our solar system,
35:11it's running out of places to hide.
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