Scientists believe that our solar system may contain planets the size of Jupiter and Uranus, likely at its edge.
The planet may be much further away than planet X, which refers to planets that exist beyond Neptune, according to scientific predictions.
The Oort Cloud, a shell believed by astronomers to mark the boundary of the gravitational pull of the sun and related satellites, is predicted to contain such a planet, trapping it.
The experts believe that there may be more interstellar objects on this edge of the Solar System than previously believed.
Scientists evaluated the likelihood that a planetary system would be able to capture a large planet by running sophisticated computer simulations to determine how large planets tend to be ejected from solar systems, The Independent reported.
In the same way that such a planet would require kinetic energy to escape the gravitational orbit of its axis star, it also requires kinetic energy for another system to pull it in.
Simulations indicated that a small percentage of these space encounters might result in a star’s gravitational pull capturing a discarded planet and forming its own.
Astronomers said: “This is more likely to happen when such a planet drifts close to a star system’s outer edge Oort cloud.”
Researchers estimated that “one in every 200-3000 stars could host an Oort cloud planet.”
“If the Solar System’s dynamical instability happened after birth cluster dissolution, there is an about 7% chance that an ice giant was captured in the Sun’s Oort cloud,” scientists wrote in the study.
However, they also said this prediction is likely an overestimate as the estimate does not account for instabilities that take place at the early stages of a solar system that could affect its star birth cluster, or planet stripping from passing stars.
Relying on the observation, scientists maintained that Oort Cloud planets at the edge of the Solar System are more likely to have been adopted from interstellar space than being offspring of the Sun.
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