Far and Frozen: Discovery of distant planet after Pluto sparks talk of ‘planet nine’  

A hitherto unidentified distant planet has been discovered by astronomers in the farthest limits of our solar system. It is a frozen, far-off globe that lies well beyond Pluto and is perplexing scientists with its peculiar orbit and dark, icy surface.

The astronomical body that has spurred discussions about “Planet Nine”—temporarily dubbed “2017 OF201″—is thought to be located in the Kuiper Belt or maybe beyond in the fictitious Oort Cloud. It may be a dwarf planet or even a component of a bigger, undiscovered system.

According to researchers, it might have formed outside of our solar system and been drawn toward the Sun’s gravitational pull billions of years ago due to its great distance and erratic track.

READ ALSO: NASA discovers new potentially habitable earth-size exoplanet

“This is one of the most exciting discoveries in recent memory,” said Dr. Elena Torres, a planetary scientist involved in the research. “It challenges our understanding of the solar system’s edge.”

The finding was revealed on May 21 by the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union, which keeps track of new moons and other minor planets in the solar system. 2017 OF201 may be a dwarf planet, the same classification Pluto has had since being demoted from ninth planet in 2006, with a width of about 435 miles. 

“Even though advances in telescopes have enabled us to explore distant parts of the universe,” said Sihao Cheng, the Institute for Advanced Study researcher who led the discovery, in a statement, “there is still a great deal to discover about our own solar system.”

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