photo crdt. sketchfab
the mystery of planet nine
planet 9 is this ultra‑mysterious, still‑unseen world that might be lurking way out past neptune. scientists only infer its existence from weird clustering in the orbits of icy outer‑solar system rocks. it’s probably a super‑earth, maybe 5–10 times the mass of earth, taking 10k–20k years to circle the sun. a dot seen in old infrared scans gave us a glimmer of hope — though it didn’t quite line up with predictions.
is it real?
scientists believe planet IX could be real based on oddly aligned orbits of planetary objects beyond neptune.
super-earth
this supposed giant is believed to be 5-10x earth's mass, orbiting further than 400x our distance from the sun. (also known as an astronomical unit)