A planet 10 times bigger than Earth that lies beyond Neptune has been declared by scientists a few weeks ago, creating much excitement among scientists and the public as well. However, this "ninth planet" of the solar system has not yet been detected and discovered yet, in terms of direct evidence.
NASA just released a video featuring NASA's director of planetary science, Jim Green, stating caution that it is still too early to claim that a ninth planet in our solar system exists out there. Green explains in the video that this new idea of a new planet is truly exciting as a planetary scientist and for all of humanity, however this is still not the detection of a new planet.
It has been too early to confirm with certainty that there is a so-called "Planet X" out there. Scientists have called this "Planet Nine" involving a new theory that if this planet does exist, it lies some 20 times the distance of Neptune from the sun. This would also mean that this planet lies in the Kuiper Belt, which is a region filled with millions of icy objects including dwarf planet Pluto.
Planet Nine was announced when a scientific paper was published last January 20 revealing that some bodies in the Kuiper Belt were supposedly affected by the gravitational signature of this massive planet lurking beyond Neptune's orbit.
This is still not considered as direct evidence where this prediction has been based on solar system models that are constantly being developed with observational data, allowing astronomers to view the solar system and what other bodies might exist beyond what is currently seen.
Green says that this paper released by the Astronomical Journal has peaked much interest in planetary exploration however, starting a debate is also part of this scientific process. He adds that starting this process could now lead to exciting results.
Astronomers also say that if this planet does exist, it would have been easier to search and to spot with the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, which has been the forerunner in ground based observatories in finding distant objects in our solar system. Scientists also say that even for a few months of constantly scanning a region in the sky where the planet is predicted to be can provide any kind of direct observational evidence for its existence.
However, there is still a possibility that Planet Nine does not exist and that the motion of these Kuiper Belt objects can be traced to another source, as the prediction of a new planet in the solar system happens every few years, according to NASA officials.