{"id":229200,"date":"2026-01-12T03:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T03:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/229200\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T03:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T03:42:13","slug":"a-hidden-earth-like-planet-could-be-lurking-in-the-frozen-edges-of-our-solar-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/229200\/","title":{"rendered":"A hidden Earth-like planet could be lurking in the frozen edges of our solar system"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Could a hidden planet\u2014a twin of our own world\u2014be lurking on the edge of the solar system? According to two Japanese astronomers, it\u2019s possible. They believe a cold, dark, Earth-like body may be orbiting far beyond Neptune on a sharply tilted path.<\/p>\n<p>Planetary scientists Patryk Sofia Lykawka of Kindai University and Takashi Ito of Japan\u2019s National Astronomical Observatory describe the potential discovery in The Astronomical Journal. Their model suggests this mysterious world could be no more than three times Earth\u2019s mass and might orbit within 500 astronomical units of the Sun.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe predict the existence of an Earth-like planet and several trans-Neptunian objects with unique orbital patterns,\u201d the researchers wrote. \u201cThese could provide observable evidence of the planet\u2019s gravitational influence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A mass larger than Earth\u2019s<\/p>\n<p>If such a planet exists, its distant, inclined orbit could help explain several puzzling features of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.futura-sciences.com\/en\/terraforming-mars-scientists-propose-a-wild-fix-involving-a-controlled-apocalypse_21911\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kuiper Belt<\/a> \u2014 the vast ring of icy bodies and dwarf planets beyond Neptune.<\/p>\n<p>According to Ito and Lykawka, three major traits stand out: a large population of trans-Neptunian objects whose orbits lie beyond Neptune\u2019s pull, a cluster of objects on steeply tilted paths, and a handful of extreme bodies moving along unusually stretched orbits.<\/p>\n<p>Their calculations indicate that this hypothetical Earth-like world would have between 1.5 and 3 times Earth\u2019s mass, an aphelion \u2014 the farthest point from the Sun \u2014 ranging from 250 to 500 astronomical units, and an orbital tilt of about 30 degrees relative to the solar plane.<\/p>\n<p>If true, this hidden planet could also account for the strange paths of objects inclined more than 45 degrees, including the dwarf planet Sedna, whose elongated orbit has long puzzled astronomers. The researchers say it might even clarify the behavior of certain trans-Neptunian groups linked to Neptune but often left out of previous studies.<\/p>\n<p>While no <a href=\"https:\/\/www.futura-sciences.com\/en\/james-webb-telescope-reveals-hidden-monsters-from-the-early-universe_20235\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">telescope<\/a> has yet spotted this elusive world, its subtle gravitational fingerprints may one day reveal its presence \u2014 a reminder that even our own cosmic neighborhood still holds mysteries waiting to be found.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/auteur-fs-100x100.webp.webp\" class=\"attachment-100x100 size-100x100\" alt=\"author-fs\" itemprop=\"image\"  \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Could a hidden planet\u2014a twin of our own world\u2014be lurking on the edge of the solar system? According&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-229200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}