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'Ninth planet' may exist in solar system: US scientists

Researchers say they found planet through mathematical modeling and computer simulations

Afp January 20, 2016

An artist’s impression of a possible ninth planet. It would be quite large — at least as big as Earth — with a thick atmosphere around a rocky core. PHOTO: CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

MIAMI: A previously unknown giant planet, nicknamed Planet Nine, may have been discovered lurking in the outer reaches of our solar system, US scientists announced on Wednesday.

The object "has a mass about 10 times that of Earth" and follows a "bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the distant solar system," said a statement by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

"In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the Sun."

'Hello, is this planet Earth?' Astronaut dials wrong number on Christmas call from space

The report was published in the Astronomical Journal.

Researchers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown say they found the planet through mathematical modeling and computer simulations, and have not yet observed the object directly.

The celestial body has about 5,000 times the mass of Pluto.

"This would be a real ninth planet," said Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy.

"It's a pretty substantial chunk of our solar system that's still out there to be found, which is pretty exciting."

By AFP

Published: December 25, 2015

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Astronaut Tim Peake. PHOTO: AFP

LONDON: Tim Peake, the first British astronaut on the International Space Station, dialled a wrong number after trying to phone home for Christmas, asking a woman “Is this planet Earth?”

“I’d like to apologise to the lady I just called by mistake saying ‘Hello, is this planet Earth?’ – not a prank call…just a wrong number!” he tweeted late on Thursday.

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I'd like to apologise to the lady I just called by mistake saying 'Hello, is this planet Earth?' – not a prank call…just a wrong number!

— Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) December 24, 2015

Peake, 43, became the first British astronaut to travel to the space station after blasting off from the Moscow-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan earlier this month for a six-month mission.