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BarkellWH -> New Ninth Planet Discovered (Jan. 23 2016 1:19:11)
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A couple of Cal Tech astronomers have convincing evidence of a ninth planet in the solar system which would replace Pluto, downgraded to a "dwarf planet" in 2006. Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown (who downgraded Pluto) have inferred the existence of the ninth planet--Planet X--from the gravitational effects observed in six objects near its orbit, much as Neptune was discovered by the gravitational effect it had on the planet Uranus.
Although the planet itself has not been seen, it would take a planet with the mass of 10 Earths to shepherd the six objects into their strange elliptical orbits, tilted out of the plane of the solar system. The orbit of the inferred planet is similarly tilted, as well as stretched to distances that are seven times farther than Neptune from the sun. The ninth planet--Planet X--orbits the sun once every 15,000 years, so it is really far out there, although still part of our solar system. that this planet actually exists will only be confirmed if and when it is actually observed. But the evidence is pretty convincing.
Bill
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