Hundreds of Moon-sized worlds may orbit the Sun far beyond Neptune, sculpting the geometry of the outer Solar System. So far, astronomers have spotted only a handful of these objects — but if more are out there, they could explain why other distant bodies move in the way they do.
Proof of a large number of these worlds could weaken the case for Planet Nine — an unseen planet bigger than Earth that is hypothesized to orbit beyond Neptune. Their collective gravitational influence would tug some planetary objects into orbits that move away from the inner Solar System.
“Smaller bodies cause this detachment, not an unseen ninth planet,” says Jacob Fleisig, an undergraduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder. He presented the work on 4 June at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Denver.
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