A rare exoplanet found 60 billion miles out from its binary host may shed light on a mystery in our own solar system.
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00:00For years, scientists have searched for a mysterious Planet 9 lurking out in the distant
00:08reaches of the solar system.
00:10Something with a planet-sized gravity may be pulling on icy bodies out beyond Neptune.
00:14Now the discovery of a massive exoplanet found circling a double star 336 light-years away
00:20may provide clues as to how such a planet could exist.
00:23The exoplanet, named HD 106906 b, is roughly 11 times larger than Jupiter and orbits its
00:30host stars at more than 730 times the distance of the Earth to the Sun.
00:35That orbit takes 15,000 years to complete.
00:38Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope found something else peculiar.
00:42The orbit is elongated and inclined at an odd angle.
00:45Scientists think the exoplanet might have actually formed close to its stars, and over
00:49time, drag caused its orbit to decay, pulling it even closer.
00:53Instead of colliding with them, the binary's gravity might have launched the exoplanet
00:56far outside the system.
00:58But at just the right moment, another passing star could have stabilized its orbit, keeping
01:02it from being flung into deep space.
01:04The explanation may account for Planet 9 in our own solar system, if it exists.
01:09The findings were published in the Astronomical Journal.