The Real Rogue One? Scientists Explain the Origins of Mysterious Planet Nine

Planet Nine, a humungous planet lurking in the Kuiper Belt on the fringes of the solar system, has yet to be seen, but its personal history is certainly taking shape. New research strongly suggest that the hypothetical world was actually a rogue planet that was caught by the sun sometime in the past.

According to a report from Space.com, lead author of the study and New Mexico State University (NMSU) undergraduate James Vesper came to this conclusion after he and his mentor NMSU math and science professor Paul Mason completed computer simulations of approximately 156 interactions between the solar system and different rogue planets.

Through these simulations, the pair found out that the solar system often has numerous rogue worlds. However, 60 percent of the time, this planet would be flung right back out in what Vesper described as a "rogue in, rogue out" situation.

In fact, in roughly 10 percent of the encounters, the rogue planet would even take one of the native planets along with them as they spin out of the solar system.

On the other hand, 40 percent of the encounters result in the rogue planet being captured permanently by the solar system, sometimes booting out native planets as they enter the system. Vesper explained that the "putative orbit" of Planet Nine lines up with the characteristics of a rogue planet, although their simulations have yet to prove anything definitively.

Even other scientists have not ruled out the potential of this new theory, although there are others that suggest a host of other different origins such as Planet Nine being a native of the solar system as well as another theory that the sun snatched the planet from a different star ages ago.

"It is certainly plausible that Planet Nine is captured object," Konstantin Batygin, an assistant professor of planetary sciences in Caltech, said in a report from Gizmodo. "Without knowing the precise orbit, it is difficult to decisively confirm or refute rogue capture as Planet Nine's origin story, but it's certainly possible."

Planet Nine is reportedly 10 times bigger than the Earth and about 10,000 astronomical units away from the sun.