Back in January I reported, over on my other blog site, about the discovery of ‘Planet 9’ at the far edge of our Heliosphere (http://www.solarancestors.com/blog/-newsflash-planet-x-located-in-outer-solar-system-today ). Generally speaking, I confine my blogs to matters pertaining to our own Solar System, not celestial bodies outside it. The latest information by researchers at the Lund University in Sweden, based on computer simulation, suggests that Planet 9 is most likely an ‘exoplanet’ – meaning it originated outside of our Heliosphere. If the discovery proves correct, it will make this the first exoplanet found to be inside our home Solar System and, possibly, the only one we could ever reach by using a space probe.

According to the experts from Lund, the planet might have been ‘captured’ by our Sun in the distant past and remained undetected until now. It would be ironic that while astronomers are looking for exoplanets hundreds of light years away in other solar systems, there's probably one hiding in our own backyard. There is still no image of Planet 9, not even a point of light - we don't know if it is made up of rock, ice, or gas. All we know is that its mass is around ten times that of Earth.

As exciting as the discovery may be, it will take a lot more research to establish whether Planet 9 is indeed the first exoplanet found in our solar system - and what it is like. Stayed tuned!
 
Reference: "Is there an exoplanet in the Solar System?" - Alexander J. Mustill1, Sean N. Raymond, and Melvyn B. Davies - Monthly Notices Letters of the Royal Astronomical Society (2016) - doi: 10.1093/mnrasl/slw075

Credit for Featured image at  top of page: Lund University