Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
User submission
21
9.9K
Scientists Say There Could Be A 9th Planet In Our Solar System And Tumblr Freaks Out
Tumblr is definitely a Cornucopia full of the Internet’s most diverse content. You can find funny memes there for when you need a laugh, stunning shots for when you need to look at something aesthetically pleasing, and even pick up a political fight if you feel like it. And while most would say that the majority of the big T’s content is nonsensical and shouldn’t really be taken seriously, sometimes people on the social media site find themselves discussing quite interesting things.One blog that generates various interesting facts pointed out that scientists believe there is another undiscovered planet in our Solar system and Tumblr users, naturally, didn’t take that calmly.
RELATED:
Scientists believe that there is an undiscovered planet on the outskirts of the solar system
Image credits: nagualdesign
What Tumblr peeps were freaking about is, in fact, Planet Nine, a hypothetical Solar System planet that some scientists believe exists beyond Neptune. While many hypothetical planets have been proposed before, they have also been disproved, however, Planet Nine certainly has substantial evidence to be probable.
Image credits: space.com
The biggest reason why many scientists speculate there must be a planet beyond Neptune is because there are some bodies in the Kuiper belt that have very unusual orbits. So unusual that scientists can’t yet explain why they are that way. That’s why one of the proposals that would put some sense to the unusual orbits is another planet large enough to affect these orbits and give them such unusual routes.
Image credits: space.com
The scientists speculate that Planet Nine could be roughly 10 or 15 times bigger than the Earth. Why would such a big plan go unnoticed for a long time? Well, if Planet Nine actually exists, its orbit is absolutely massive and stretches out further from the Sun than any other Solar planet. It also probably has a stretched out, elliptical orbit which means that it can travel very far away from the sun and it would take many years for it to return close to the sun where we could see it.
Image credits: space.com
Despite that, thousands of volunteers together with scientists teamed up to scan through thousands of data images to look for a sign of it. And those who believe in Planet Nine’s existence think that we could find it within the next 15 years.
In the “Backyard Worlds: Planet 9” project, an initiative that seeks people from all over the world to look through images, there are currently 53,337 volunteers scanning through the pics looking for this enigmatic planet. Oh, and if trying to locate a mysterious dark planet is up your alley, you can join them!
Of course, Tumblr responded to the search of Planet Nine with memes
Image credits: younger-chuckles
Image credits: mornington-the-crescent
Image credits: klubbhead
You can watch a lengthy, but entertaining video about Planet Nine here
10Kviews
Share on Facebook
What do you think ?
Parmeisan 5 years ago
I mean, I get what this article is *actually* about and it's kind of cool. But this is a really dumb title: "Scientists Say There Could Be A Planet 10 Times Bigger Than Earth In Our Solar System". Uh, yeah. Duh. Jupiter for example can fit 1,300 Earths inside it. So it's a heck of a lot more than "could be". ;)
Parmeisan 5 years ago
I mean, I get what this article is *actually* about and it's kind of cool. But this is a really dumb title: "Scientists Say There Could Be A Planet 10 Times Bigger Than Earth In Our Solar System". Uh, yeah. Duh. Jupiter for example can fit 1,300 Earths inside it. So it's a heck of a lot more than "could be". ;)
Related on Bored Panda
112
23