The solar system may actually hold ten or 11 planets, according to a new study which poses questions for the researchers who detected evidence of "Planet Nine" earlier this year.
In January, Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) claimed there was an icy world far beyond the dwarf planet of Pluto and believed to be up to four times as large and ten times as massive as Earth.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Now those orbits have led scientists from Cambridge University and Spain to believe there could also be a Planet Ten and even Eleven, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Sverre Aarseth, from the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge, and Spanish astronomers Carlos and Raul de la Fuente Marcos say the orbit of Planet Nine does not match up with the orbits of the Kuiper belt objects and so there has to be more large planets influencing them.
"We believe that in addition to a Planet Nine, there could also be a Planet Ten and even more," said Carlos de la Fuente Marcos.
However, not everyone is convinced by the findings.
"I think it's way too early to start speculating about a second planet but, in general, I am confused by their results," Caltech's Brown told the Daily Mail.
"We have a nearly identical analysis which shows nearly the opposite result. It is not obvious to me why they would get such a different answer."
-
How Manchesterism could change the UKThe Explainer The idea involves shifting a centralized government to more local powers
-
Church of England instates first woman leaderSpeed Read Sarah Mullally became the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury
-
Fed holds rates steady, bucking Trump pressureSpeed Read The Federal Reserve voted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
What will happen in 2026? Predictions and eventsIn Depth The new year could bring peace in Ukraine or war in Venezuela, as Donald Trump prepares to host a highly politicised World Cup and Nasa returns to the Moon
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
