Context: In the continued search for the hypothetical ninth planet in our Solar System, Michael Brown, the astronomer who led the demotion of Pluto to a dwarf planet in 2006, has co-written a new study that claims to have narrowed the region the potential new planet could be located.
Key takeaways
The study proposes “Planet Nine” exists beyond Neptune and is six times the mass of Earth.
The new study also includes a “treasure map” of the planet’s likely orbit that the scientists said lasts around 7,400 Earth years and is closer to the Sun than the 2016 study found.
A closer orbit to the Sun would make the planet brighter and easier to see.
Planet Nine would probably be a cold gas giant like Neptune, the farthest known planet in a Solar System from the Sun.
Neptune has a nonsolid surface made up mostly of hydrogen, helium, and methane, according to NASA.
