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00:00Our solar system is home to eight planets, one star, 146 moons, and a cosmic plethora of comets, dwarf planets, and asteroids.
00:10Is this the whole story, though, or are there more objects than we currently know?
00:14Some think there just might be a ninth planet, and they also believe it could have cataclysmic consequences for Earth.
00:22This is Unveiled, and today we're answering the extraordinary question,
00:26Does this planet exist, and will it kill Earth?
00:29Do you need the big questions answered? Are you constantly curious?
00:33Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one? And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
00:39The solar system is defined as the sun and all the bodies gravitationally bound to it.
00:45Eight planets orbit our star, with the first four residing in the inner solar system.
00:49These are all similar to Earth, being small and rocky.
00:53Mercury is the smallest and closest to the sun, then further out sits Venus, Earth, and finally Mars.
00:59Four more planets can be found in the outer solar system, these being Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
01:07All four are much larger than any inner planet, the first two being gas giants, and the last are ice giants.
01:13Nothing larger than the planets in general orbits the sun, though, and Jupiter is the largest of all.
01:19Nevertheless, there are theories that we're missing something, that actually there's another planet-sized world somewhere out there, evading our eye.
01:27So could a ninth planet really be possible? Given its potential size and impact, you might expect scientists to have already figured this out.
01:35But claims are that if it does exist, it's too far away to be easily seen.
01:39That said, there could still be evidence that it is out there.
01:43Mathematically, it's said by some that our solar system behaves as if, yes, there could be an extra planet.
01:50It's a highly debated topic in the field, but researchers nickname this potential new world as Planet 9 or Planet X.
01:57Ultimately, though, it can be called anything you like at the moment, since naming rights go to the discoverer, and it hasn't yet been discovered.
02:04So why do we think it might be there?
02:07In 2015, Caltech researchers created computer simulations of our solar system.
02:12These were mathematical models, and they provided apparent evidence for a large, unknown mass somewhere in a wide, elongated orbit around the Sun.
02:21It's a prediction formed due to objects in the Kuiper Belt possessing peculiar orbits, unusual routes through space that might only make sense if there were something else having an effect over them.
02:32Past the orbit of Neptune, the Kuiper Belt is an icy ring surrounding our system, populated by frozen bodies.
02:39It's here that Pluto lives, on the very edge of our solar neighbourhood.
02:43Pluto is the most famous example of a Kuiper Belt object, or a KBO for short.
02:47KBOs can also be classified as Trans-Neptunian Objects, or TNOs, which are simply objects in our solar system beyond Neptune.
02:55Back to the study, though.
02:57And a handful of small KBOs were found to be bunched together in an unexpected way.
03:02They follow orbits which point and tilt in the same direction.
03:06They behave remarkably similar to one another.
03:09The chances of this happening randomly are incredibly small, however, almost impossible.
03:13So, researchers first checked if their KBO cluster might instead be being guided by another, more massive KBO.
03:20But this was found to be impossible as well, since it would require the Kuiper Belt to have 100 times its actual mass.
03:27Still, it would appear that something is exerting a gravitational influence.
03:32And many have interpreted the study to mean that there is another planet drawing and anchoring these errant KBOs.
03:40Calculations point toward it being up to 10 times the mass of Earth, with an average orbit that's 20 times the distance of Neptune.
03:47Neptune is the outermost known planet, sitting roughly 2.8 billion miles from the Sun.
03:52At such a distance, it takes 165 years to complete one journey around our star.
03:58For theoretical Planet Nine, however, it would take significantly longer.
04:02Somewhere between 10 and 20 thousand years.
04:05It's one reason why finding and tracking such a world would be difficult.
04:09That said, if it is there, then it's also the most dominant planet in the solar system.
04:15Planet Nine would and should have an influence over a larger region than any other planet in our group.
04:21It's easy to see, then, why some astronomers are excited by what might be found.
04:25And in the decade since the original Caltech study, more and more have turned their attention to understanding the true nature of our local space.
04:33The strange orbits of certain KBOs could be said to constitute the first evidence of a new planet found since the 19th century.
04:41And it isn't only those bunched up few.
04:43There are other potential examples of Planet Nine at work.
04:46In 2003, the dwarf planet Sedna was discovered in the Kuiper Belt.
04:50And again, it was, and is, unusual.
04:53Typically, KBOs follow a cycle of being gravitationally dispelled by Neptune, then drifting back into its influence.
05:01It's what shapes their path through space.
05:03Sedna is unique, though, since it never once gets close to Neptune.
05:07Originally, the leading proposed explanation was that a passing, non-solar system star is what caused this effect.
05:14But research also shows that it could instead be Planet Nine that's to blame for Sedna's irregularities.
05:20Elsewhere, in 2014, we discovered dwarf planet 2012 VP113, also known as Biden.
05:27It's strikingly similar to Sedna in its peculiarities, leading some onlookers to again paint a radical new picture of how the solar system really works.
05:37To some, it's the immense gravity of Planet Nine that's gradually pulling or shepherding these distant objects away from Neptune into more eccentric travel paths.
05:48In more recent times, in 2024, a paper was published comparing the potential effects of Planet Nine to those of galactic tides.
05:57Planet Nine naysayers argue that galactic tides could cause the same effect.
06:01These are similar to ocean tides, but arise due to a combination of massive gravitational forces that swirl across the Milky Way galaxy.
06:09Over vast periods, these external effects can and do perturb the orbits of stars like the Sun.
06:16And, ultimately, galactic tides have a huge bearing on exactly how galaxies are shaped.
06:21As such, they could in theory quite easily serve to move a few KBOs out of place.
06:26However, simulations of galactic tides only were reportedly unable to explain the Kuiper Belt mysteries that we're seeing.
06:33Meanwhile, the sims that included Planet Nine as a point of reference reportedly matched exactly what we see in reality.
06:40For now, the fact is that we are still dealing in just simulations, though.
06:44The extra planet is yet to be discovered and confirmed.
06:47There are imminent projects, such as the Vera Rubin Observatory, slated to open soon in Chile, that could make the breakthrough.
06:55But until then, we're searching in the dark, which is perhaps concerning.
06:59Because, finally, there are some theories toward an extra solar system planet being more than just a discovery waiting to be made.
07:07Rather, there are some who believe that it could be a doomsday waiting to happen.
07:12It's a popular end-of-the-world scenario called the Nibiru Cataclysm.
07:17It says that the extra planet is called Nibiru, and certain groups believe that in the 21st century it will have a disastrous encounter or even collision with Earth.
07:27Here, though, there's not quite so much by way of academic research to back the view up.
07:33The origin of most Nibiru Cataclysm theories lies with the psychic Nancy Leder.
07:38In the mid-90s, she claimed to have made contact with aliens, called the Zetans.
07:43She started the website ZetaTalk amidst the belief that she had established communication via a specialist brain implant.
07:50It was on ZetaTalk that she spread supposedly Zetan ideas, including, most notably, a warning regarding Nibiru, about how it would soon destroy the Earth.
08:00Her theories and projections caused panic at the time, particularly in the run-up to May 2003,
08:05when Leder claimed Nibiru would come so close that it would dramatically disrupt and perhaps even halt the rotation of our world.
08:12From here, all forms of Hell on Earth would unfold.
08:16Obviously, this never happened.
08:18Leder later claimed it was part of a so-called White Lie designed to fool the establishment, and she opted to withhold the actual date from that moment onwards.
08:27Other groups became inspired by her ideas, though, and came up with their own dates on which the same or a similar hidden planet event could unfold.
08:35One of these was, of course, December 21st, 2012, which also clearly never happened.
08:40From a more scientific perspective, if a planet matching Leder's claims ever were to come close to us, then yes, it would almost definitely kill us.
08:49But the good news is that no one seriously expects that to happen.
08:55If there were one close enough, we'd simply know about it by now.
08:59And as for the distant Planet Nine predicted by some astronomers, even if it were the real deal,
09:05its orbit is so extremely large that there's actually more danger of Jupiter destroying us, which is already almost impossible.
09:14Planet Nine may exist.
09:16It genuinely could be discovered in our lifetimes.
09:19But you can also rest easy, because even if it's out there, it isn't a threat.
09:24What do you think? Is there anything we missed?
09:26Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.