Extra Giant Planet May Have Dwelled in Our Solar System | Solar System Planets & Moons | Planet Formation & Evolution
Artist's impression of a planet ejected from the early solar system.
CREDIT: Southwest Research Institute
Within our solar system, an extra giant planet, or possibly two, might once have accompanied Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus.
Computer models showing how our solar system formed suggested the planets once gravitationally slung one another across space, only settling into their current orbits over the course of billions of years.
During more than 6,000 simulations of this planetary scattering phase, planetary scientist David Nesvorny at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., [...]
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Huh. Two would mean there was one to replace Pluto as the ninth, and, duhn dun duuuuuuh, a mysterious planet X! (It would be kind of awesome to see that prophecy fulfilled, just on principle. :D)
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