Scientists believe we are close to discovering 'Planet Nine'

Our solar system officially has eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. However, there is a growing consensus among scientists that there is at least one more, yet-to-be-discovered planet in our solar system. This is not Pluto, which was downgraded to the status of a dwarf planet in 2006.

Planet nine aka Planet X

Scientists have been looking for the theoretical planet, referred to as Planet Nine or Planet X, beyond Neptune, but with no success. This is likely to change soon, and many in the astronomy community believe that the discovery of the ninth planet, if it exists, is just around the corner.

Also read: Scientists Claim New Evidence On 'Unknown Planet' In Solar System

LIVE SCIENCE

Can new observatory find Planet nine

Scientists are pinning their hopes on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, an under-construction facility in Chile. Once completed, the state-of-the-art telescope at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will start to survey the night sky in late 2025. This ground-based telescope, which will be equipped with the world's largest digital camera, will let researchers peer farther into the solar system than any of its predecessors allowed, similar to how the James Webb Space Telescope has enabled researchers to look farther across the observable universe than ever before.

Also read: Did NASA's Telescope Find Alien Life? Here Is What Scientists Say

RUBIN OBSERVATORY

When will Planet nine be found

But that doesn't mean that the elusive planet will be discovered within a matter of days or weeks. "This will take at least a decade or more," Andreas Hein, a space systems engineer at the University of Luxembourg, told Live Science.

Where could Planet nine be

According to scientists, if it exists, Planet Nine is likely around 500 astronomical units away from the sun, on average¡ªmeaning it's 500 times farther from the sun than Earth is.

NASA

This far out, it could take between 5,000 and 10,000 years for Planet Nine to complete a single trip around the sun. Its orbit is probably highly elliptical, so its distance from the sun would vary widely over time. It also likely does not orbit on the same plane as the rest of the planets, which makes it even trickier to find.

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