Strong evidence of a ninth planet in our solar system

Artist's impression of a ninth planet: Telescopes are sure to try to track down the object... if it really exists

American astronomers say they have strong evidence that there is a ninth planet in our Solar System orbiting far beyond even the dwarf world Pluto. The team, from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), has no direct observations to confirm its presence just yet. Rather, the scientists make the claim based on the way other far-flung objects are seen to move. But if proven, the hypothetical planet would have 10 times the mass of Earth.
The Caltech astronomers have a vague idea where it ought to be on the sky, and their work is sure to fire a campaign to try to track it down.
 "There are many telescopes on the Earth that actually have a chance of being able to find it," said Dr Mike Brown.
"And I'm really hoping that as we announce this, people start a worldwide search to go find this ninth planet."

The group's calculations suggest the object orbits 20 times farther from the Sun on average than does the eighth - and currently outermost - planet, Neptune, which moves about 4.5 billion km from our star. But unlike the near-circular paths traced by the main planets, this novel object would be in a highly elliptical trajectory, taking between 10,000 and 20,000 years to complete one full lap around the Sun.

The Caltech group has analyzed the movements of objects in a band of far-off icy material known as the Kuiper Belt. It is in this band that Pluto resides.
The scientists say they see distinct alignments among some members of the Kuiper Belt - and in particular two of its larger members known as Sedna and 2012 VP113. These alignments, they argue, are best explained by the existence of a hitherto unidentified large planet.
"The most distant objects all swing out in one direction in a very strange way that shouldn't happen, and we realized the only way we could, theoretically,  get them to swing in one direction is if there is a massive planet, also very distant in the Solar System, keeping them in place with it's gravity, while they all go around the Sun together" explained Dr Brown.
"I went from trying very hard to be sceptical that what we were talking about was true, to suddenly thinking, 'this might actually be true'."

The idea that there might be a so-called Planet X moving in the distant reaches of the Solar System has been debated for more than a hundred years. It has fallen in and out of vogue. What makes this claim a little more interesting and believable is Dr Brown himself.
He specializes in finding far-flung objects, and it was his discovery of 2,236km-wide Eris in the Kuiper Belt in 2005 that led famously to the demotion of Pluto from full planet status a year later (Dr Brown's Twitter handle is @PlutoKiller).
At that stage, Pluto was thought to be slightly smaller than Eris, but is now known to be just a little bit bigger.

Others who model the outer Solar System have been saying for some years that the range of sizes seen in the objects, so far identified in the Kuiper Belt, suggest another planet perhaps the size of Earth or Mars could be a possibility. But there is sure to be strong scepticism until a confirmed telescopic observation is made.
Dr Brown and Konstantin Batygin (@kbatygin) report their work in The Astronomical Journal.
Outside scientists say their calculations stack up and express a mixture of caution and excitement about the result. “I could not imagine a bigger deal if—and of course that’s a boldface ‘if’—if it turns out to be right,” says Gregory Laughlin, a planetary scientist at the University of California (UC), Santa Cruz. “What’s thrilling about it is the planet is detectable," ( if it is there) with our present technology.

The 'ninth planet' - where to look?

The six most distant known objects in the Solar system with orbits exclusively beyond Neptune (magenta) all mysteriously line up in a single direction. Why? Brown and Batygin argue that this is because a massive planet (orange) is anti-aligned with these objects. Can telescopes now find this planet? Is it possible the evidence is already in observational data but no-one has yet recognized it? The hunt is on.

Hello my junior scientists....

If it turns out there is another planet in our solar system...and I strongly suspect this is true....what do you think it should be named???? Mars Jupiter and Saturn come from Greek and Roman mythology but I think the new planet should have a modern name.

Love Aunt Jeannie