By comparing both datasets, the team detected a faint source with subtle but consistent motion over 23 years. That shift suggests a potential orbital path around the Sun. Based on its trajectory and apparent distance, the object is estimated to lie between 46.5 and 65.1 billion miles (500 to 700 astronomical units) from the Sun.<\/p>\n
![\"Artist's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/artists-illustration-of-the-epsilon-eridani-system-showing-epsilon-eridani-b-1067x800.jpg\"\/)
Artist\u2019s illustration of the Epsilon Eridani system showing Epsilon Eridani b, right foreground, a Jupiter-mass planet orbiting its parent star at the outside edge of an asteroid belt.\u00a0Credit: NASA\/SOFIA\/Lynette Cook<\/p>\n
If the signal represents a planetary body, it would fall into the category of ice giants, with a mass between seven and seventeen times that of Earth. Its temperature, estimated between \u2013370\u00b0F and \u2013360\u00b0F, implies it reflects minimal sunlight, making it difficult to detect using traditional telescopes.<\/p>\n
These preliminary findings are detailed in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. A preprint version of the study<\/a> is available via arXiv, offering initial evidence for what researchers describe as a possible Planet Nine candidate.<\/p>\n Gravitational Patterns in the Kuiper Belt Suggest Hidden Mass<\/p>\n The Kuiper Belt<\/a> extends beyond Neptune\u2019s orbit and contains millions of icy bodies, including Pluto and Arrokoth. Over the past decade, astronomers have observed unusual clustering among Kuiper Belt Objects\u2014highly elliptical or inclined orbits that suggest the gravitational pull of an unknown massive object.<\/p>\n These patterns have long intrigued researchers. Some KBOs even move in retrograde orbits, opposite the general flow of planetary motion. NASA has reported that this behaviour may indicate the presence of a large, distant body altering orbital dynamics.<\/p>\n Support for this theory increased following a 2016 model from Caltech, which proposed a distant planet ten times Earth\u2019s mass, orbiting far beyond Neptune, to explain the clustering of distant objects<\/a>. While that model remains hypothetical, the new infrared detection offers a rare observational data point that may fit those parameters.<\/p>\n Planet Characteristics Match Known Ice Giants<\/p>\n The potential ninth planet\u2019s inferred mass and composition resemble Uranus and Neptune, the solar system\u2019s known ice giants. These planets have dense atmospheres <\/a>composed of hydrogen, helium, and methane, and contain icy cores likely formed under colder, more remote conditions than those of Jupiter or Saturn.<\/p>\n Detection of such bodies in the far solar system is challenging. Their distance reduces reflected sunlight, while cold temperatures limit visible-light emissions. Infrared telescopes are therefore essential for identifying objects at such scales and distances.<\/p>\n![\"These](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/these-two-multiple-exposure-images-from-hubble-show-kuiper-belt-objects-against-a-background-of-star.jpeg\"\/)
These two multiple-exposure images from NASA\u2019s Hubble Space Telescope show Kuiper Belt objects, or KBOs, against a background of stars in the constellation Sagittarius. The two KBOs are roughly 4 billion miles from Earth. Credit: NASA, ESA, SwRI, JHU\/APL, New Horizons KBO Search Team<\/p>\n
![\"Stsci](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/stsci-01evsttebzg00cvm5pbqrpmzww.jpg\"\/)
The Hubble Space Telescope captured these images of the mysterious ice giants Uranus, left, and Neptune, right. Shortly after launch in 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope will unlock secrets of the atmospheres of both planets. Credit: M. Showalter \/SETI Institute and J. Lissauer\/NASA Ames Research Cente<\/p>\n