Is This a Distant Cousin to the Alleged Planet 9

A rare exoplanet found 60 billion miles out from its binary host may shed light on a mystery in our own solar system.

Transcript

00:00For years, scientists have searched for a mysterious Planet 9 lurking out in the distant

00:08reaches of the solar system.

00:10Something with a planet-sized gravity may be pulling on icy bodies out beyond Neptune.

00:14Now the discovery of a massive exoplanet found circling a double star 336 light-years away

00:20may provide clues as to how such a planet could exist.

00:23The exoplanet, named HD 106906 b, is roughly 11 times larger than Jupiter and orbits its

00:30host stars at more than 730 times the distance of the Earth to the Sun.

00:35That orbit takes 15,000 years to complete.

00:38Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope found something else peculiar.

00:42The orbit is elongated and inclined at an odd angle.

00:45Scientists think the exoplanet might have actually formed close to its stars, and over

00:49time, drag caused its orbit to decay, pulling it even closer.

00:53Instead of colliding with them, the binary's gravity might have launched the exoplanet

00:56far outside the system.

00:58But at just the right moment, another passing star could have stabilized its orbit, keeping

01:02it from being flung into deep space.

01:04The explanation may account for Planet 9 in our own solar system, if it exists.

01:09The findings were published in the Astronomical Journal.