Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology announced Wednesday that they have found new evidence of a giant icy planet lurking in the darkness of our solar system far beyond the orbit of Pluto.
They are calling it "Planet Nine."
Their paper, published in the Astronomical Journal, describes the planet as about five to 10 times as massive as the Earth.
Telescopes on at least two continents are searching for the object, which on average is 20 times farther away than the eighth planet, Neptune.
Confirmation of its existence would reconfigure the models of the solar system.
Pluto, discovered in 1930, spent three-quarters of a century as the iconic ninth planet.
