Find Planet Nine! NASA's Saturn probe helps with the hunt

The search for a possible ninth planet, far beyond the orbit of Pluto, is being assisted by NASA's Cassini probe, which has been exploring the Saturn system for more than a decade.

The news that a possible ninth planet with a mass 10 times that of Earth could be orbiting in the dark region beyond Neptune lit up the public's imagination in January. The prediction is still just that -- a hypothesis, based on modeling, not observation. But the scientists behind the idea say telescope searches of the solar system could confirm (or deny) the prediction within five years.

Now, another group of scientists is showing how the existence of such a planet would affect the motions of the other eight planets. The work relies heavily on measurements taken by the Cassini probe, and aims to narrow down the hunting zone where scientists should point their telescopes as they search for this hidden monster.

The search for Planet Nine

The Cassini probe is a space-based workhorse. It captures breathtaking images of Saturn, makes death-defying dives toward its moons and measures the precise location of Saturn at various times during its orbits around the sun. This latter information is plugged into a model of the solar system that tracks the movement of its largest bodies.

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