There may be at least two undiscovered, Earth-sized planets lurking within our solar system, researchers say in two new papers published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters.
Scientists analyzing a set of "extreme trans-Neptunian objects" found that the elliptical paths of the 13 bodies they analyzed had "unexpected orbital parameters." The team suggests that the discrepancies are the result of "other unknown planets…altering the distribution of the orbital elements." Such unknown planets — dubbed "Planet X" and now "Planet Y" — would most likely exist beyond Neptune and Pluto, Space.com reports.
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