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The Super-Earth that came Home for Dinner

An artist's illustration of a possible ninth planet in our solar system, hovering at the edge of our solar system. Neptune's orbit is shown as a bright ring around the Sun. Credit: ESO/Tom Ruen/nagualdesign

An artist’s illustration of a possible ninth planet in our solar system, hovering at the edge of our solar system. Neptune’s orbit is shown as a bright ring around the Sun. Credit: ESO/Tom Ruen/nagualdesign

It might be lingering on the icy outer edges of our solar system, stretching out the orbits of distant bodies, perhaps even tilting the entire solar system to one side. It is a possible “Planet Nine” – a world perhaps 10 times the mass of Earth and 20 times farther from the sun than Neptune. The signs so far are indirect, mainly its gravitational footprints, but that adds up to a compelling case nonetheless. One of its most dedicated trackers, in fact, says it is now harder to imagine our solar system without a Planet Nine than with one.

“There are now five different lines of observati...

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