There's only one place: scientists say they know where Planet X is hiding

The theory of the Ninth Planet arose from the assumption that somewhere in the outer reaches of the solar system, far beyond the orbit of Pluto, there is another planet, as yet unknown to science, hiding. A study recently published by The Astronomical Journal has shed some light on this cosmic mystery.

Science Alert reported that scientists tried to determine the possible location of Planet X. Scientists are seeking to better understand the structure, stages of formation, and evolutionary processes of the Solar System.

The lead author of the study was Professor Mike Brown from the California Institute of Technology.

"We continue to try to systematically cover all regions of the sky where we predict the Ninth Planet will appear. Using the Pan-STARRS data allowed us to cover the largest region to date," said the professor.

Pan-STARRS, which stands for Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, is an astronomical observation system located at the Haleakala Observatory. In the course of the study, the researchers used data from Data Release 2 (DR2), and were able to significantly narrow down the range of the hypothetical location of Planet X. They managed to eliminate 78% of the options, which is an impressive figure. In addition, scientists have provided new estimates for the calculation of the approximate major axis (measured in astronomical units (AU)) and the size of the Earth's mass of Planet X at 500 and 6.6, respectively.

Although Planet X is still a hypothesis and a mystery, Professor Brown expressed confidence that by significantly narrowing the search region, scientists are on the verge of a major discovery.

The LSST (Legacy Survey of Space and Time) is a ten-year program to study the southern sky, including the study of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) and small celestial bodies in the solar system.

Astronomers aim to determine the properties of dark matter and trace the evolution of the Milky Way galaxy.

Scientists began to hypothesize the existence of the Ninth Planet shortly after the discovery of Neptune in 1846, including an 1880 memoir written by D. Kirkwood and later a 1946 article written by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who was responsible for the discovery of Pluto in 1930.

More recent studies provide evidence for the existence of the ninth planet, the first of which was co-authored by Professor Brown.