Planet 9: Did Our Solar System’s Hypothetical ‘Planet X’ Come From Another Star System? [Video]

Planet 9. Some people call it “Planet X,” others might refer to it as Nibiru, but no matter what you call it, scientists are pretty sure it’s out there. Nobody’s seen it, not even with all of the modern day telescopes and other equipment that the world has pointed at the sky. Still, astronomers the world over believe that Planet 9 exists. As Seeker reports, the gravity of something massive is pulling on Kuiper belt objects (KBOs). Despite all of the indirect evidence that Planet 9 is out there, the elusive planet has yet to provide astronomers with any visual confirmation.

According to scientists, the fact that Planet 9 hasn’t been picked up by any of Earth’s optical or infrared surveys doesn’t mean that it’s not there. What it does mean is that if it is out there, it’s way out there. And it’s gigantic.

Rumors of a Planet 9 — which has gone by many names; not too long ago Pluto was the ninth planet in the solar system — have swirled for decades, but this time around scientists believe they’ve compiled some of the best evidence yet of its existence.

Furthermore, on May 31, astronomers dropped a pretty big bombshell into the theoretical Planet 9 discussion. Many don’t believe that Planet 9 began its life in our solar system. Some, including Alexander Mustill, a Lund University astronomer, think that our sun’s gravity could have sucked Planet 9 away from its home star billions of years ago.

“It is almost ironic that while astronomers often find exoplanets hundreds of light years away in other solar systems, there’s probably one hiding in our own backyard.”

According to Mustill, our fledgling sun’s gravity tangled with the orbit of a neighboring star’s planet. While it might sound unlikely, scientific observations of the formation of stars lend credence to the Planet 9 ex-exoplanet theory. Stars, after all, are born in chaotic clouds of molecular dust, and they are born in clusters. As each of these stars begins to form planets, it’s not a stretch to think that their orbits could become destabilized.

This destabilization could hypothetically lead to a planet being “flung” out into space, or, as may be the case of the hypothetical Planet 9, being sucked up by a neighboring star.

Over time, the chaos would settle into order and solar systems would begin to predictably orbit their host star. But, that doesn’t mean that every planet ended up orbiting the star it formed from. According to computer simulations carried out by Mustill and his team of astronomers, it’s highly likely that this is precisely what happened to Planet 9.

“Planet 9 may very well have been ‘shoved’ by other planets, and when it ended up in an orbit that was too wide around its own star, our sun may have taken the opportunity to steal and capture Planet 9 from its original star. When the sun later departed from the stellar cluster in which it was born, Planet 9 was stuck in an orbit around the sun.”

Current calculations based upon gravitational disruptions attributed to Planet 9 estimate that it is roughly ten times the mass of Earth. Scientists don’t know if they are looking for a gigantic rocky planet or something more like Neptune, the ice giant.

If Planet 9 originated from a star other than our sun, what it is could be completely alien to us and differ utterly from any planet Earth’s scientists have ever seen or even contemplated.

Ironically, the newest Planet 9 theories sync up with some “conspiracy theory” beliefs about a fabled ninth planet in our solar system. That planet is known to believers as Nibiru, reports Seattle Pi.

Here’s the Nibiru theory, and check out how it parallels the hypothetical Planet 9. The idea of Nibiru was somewhat thrust upon the American public by Zecharia Sitchin, who wrote The 12th Planet in 1976. The book was based upon ancient Sumerian texts and myths. According to Sitchin, the Sumerians’ gods-given conception of the Solar System counted all eight planets, plus Pluto, the Sun and the Moon, hence the book’s title.

Nibiru, like Planet 9, has an orbit beyond Neptune. According to Sitchin, it’s elliptical and only enters the inner solar system (i.e., near Earth) every 3,600 years. Sitchin noted in his book that the inhabitants of Nibiru were the Annunaki of Sumerian lore. Christians would have referred to them as the Nephilim.

Planet Nibiru AKA 9th planet was a conspiracy 1 year back. Now its a reality. Same will happen with Aliens https://t.co/h1HecRBt9e

— Prashanth Rangaswamy (@itisprashanth) May 29, 2016

While modern science has long discredited Zecharia Sitchin as a madman and regards the legendary Nibiru as nothing more than a myth, conspiracy theorists have responded to this week’s Planet 9 announcement with excitement and a bit of fear.

Is Planet 9 the same predicted on the Sumerian tablets, as per Mr Sutchin says?

— Rene Maldonado (@Rodanod) June 1, 2016

What do you think of the new theory surrounding the hypothetical Planet 9? Is it valid or just conjecture? Could Planet 9 and Nibiru be one and the same?

[Image by Shutterstock]