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Planet Nine is the name given to a large icy planet in the outer Solar System proposed to exist by astronomers at Caltech in January 2016. The planet, which has not been directly observed, would explain correlations in the orbits of six stable Kuiper Belt objects that, according to simulation, would only occur with 0.007% probability by chance alone. The researchers found that "capture of KBO orbits into long-lived apsidally anti-aligned configurations occurs (albeit with variable success) across a significant range of companion parameters (i.e., a' ~ 400–1500 AU, e' ~ 0.5–0.8)." The former number represents the semimajor axis and the latter the orbital eccentricity. For their nominal simulation, they selected a' = 700 AU, e' = 0.6, and m' = 10 m_⊕, i.e. a body with ten times the mass of the Earth, orbital inclination i' = 30°, and initial argument of perihelion ω' = 150°.

See also

• Pluto, formerly regarded as the ninth planet
• Planet X, a previous hypothesis for a tenth planet (beyond Pluto)

References

1. Achenbach, Joel; Feltman, Rachel (2016-01-20). "New evidence suggests a ninth planet lurking at the edge of the solar system". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
2. Konstantin Batygin1 and Michael E. Brown (2016 January 20). "Evidence for a distant giant planet in the Solar system". The Astronomical Journal. 151 (2). doi:10.3847/0004-6256/151/2/22. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)

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