The Evidence for 'Planet Nine' in Our Solar System (Gallery)

Meet Planet Nine

Scientists announced the discovery of a potential "Planet Nine" in our solar system on Jan. 20, 2016. See images of this strange giant world in our neighborhood here. THIS IMAGE: An artist's depiction of Planet Nine as envisioned by scientists.

At the Solar System's Edge

The Planet Nine evidence points to a giant planet with the mass of 10 Earths in the deep Kuiper Belt. Its orbit is about 20 times farther from the sun than that of Neptune.

The Discovery Team

The evidence for Planet Nine was unveiled by Caltech scientists Mike Brown (at left, a prolific Kuiper Belt object hunter) and Konstantin Batygin. The duo used mathematical models and computer simulations to map out Planet Nine's orbit after spotting a strange alignment in the orbits of six other Kuiper Belt objects.

What We Know

Known facts about the suspected planet. — by Karl Tate, Infographics artist

Here's what we know so far about Planet Nine. See the full infographic here.

More Evidence for Planet Nine

If a planet 10 times more massive than Earth is orbiting the sun beyond Neptune, it will affect the orbits of nearby objects. Researchers say five known objects fit the predicted orbits (shown here) precisely

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Tariq is the award-winning Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001. He covers human spaceflight, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. He's a recipient of the 2022 Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting and the 2025 Space Pioneer Award from the National Space Society. He is an Eagle Scout and Space Camp alum with journalism degrees from the USC and NYU. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.