A 10th Planet?!

It seems there is life beyond Pluto..........



A US astronomer said Friday he had discovered a 10th planet in the outer reaches of the solar system that could force scientists to redraw the astronomical map.



If confirmed, the discovery by Mike Brown of the respected California Institute of Technology would be the first of a planet since Pluto was identified in 1930 and shatter the notion that nine planets circle the sun.



"Get out your pens. Start rewriting textbooks today," said Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy, announcing what he called "the 10th planet of the solar system," one that is larger than Pluto.



"It’s the farthest object ever discovered to orbit around the sun," Brown said in a conference call of the planet that is covered in methane ice and lies nearly 15 billion kilometers [nine billion miles] from Earth.



"I’d say it’s probably one and a half times the size of Pluto," he said from CalTech, based in Pasadena, near Los Angeles, referring to what until now has been the most distant planet in Earth’s solar system.





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