For years astronomers have been speculating of another planet in our solar system that has yet to be discovered. While this planet has not been seen yet, if ever it does exist its implication on our solar system might be dire. This will likely happen once our Sun dies and the solar system becomes a cold, dark place.
There is nothing known about the speculated ninth planet of our solar system. However there are some factors that might make it a danger to it. One of the factors is its size. If ever the ninth planet turns out to be massive, it could affect the outer planets of our solar system once our Sun dies.
This has been the theory of Dr. Dimitri Veras from the Department of Physics of the University of Warwick. In his theory this ninth planet could have an effect on the outer planets. This effect would be that it could affect the orbit of one of the planets, causing it to be ejected from the solar system.
As our Sun begins to die it will first become a massive Red Giant. As it does so this will push out the outer planets away from it. This might at first seem good, but could also prove disastrous if the ninth planet is out there. The outer planets moving out might in turn pull the ninth planet in, making it come closer to one of them, as Science Daily reports.
The result would be a death dance between the outer planets and the ninth planet. If the mass of the ninth planet is particularly large, it could be enough to cause some of the outer planets to be ejected from our solar system.
Evidence of a ninth planet is becoming stronger, as astronomers earlier this year say that there appears to be a massive object outside the orbit of Neptune. According to Science Alert this evidence is based on how the rocky objects in the Kuiper Belt are moving. An object could possibly be affecting them, and it could be large enough to affect them in a big way.
The orbit of this hypothetical ninth planet takes around 10,000 to 20,000 years which shows just how far it is. Even though it is that far though it will still have an effect on our solar system. That is still in a very distant future, which could be billions of years from our time and far into the advanced life of our Sun.
While this still baffles astronomers, another mystery in space has been reported on iTechPost which also continues to fascinate researchers.
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