Beyond Pluto: Hunt for the elusive Planet Nine set to intensify this year

With the Vera Rubin Observatory due to start operating in mid-2024, the hope is that the mystery around the planet will be solved

How many planets are there in the Solar System? We know about eight and, of course, there’s poor Pluto, which has been downgraded to “dwarf planet” status along with several other dwarfs. But one of the astronomers responsible for the Pluto downgrade believes there is another large planet out there, in the outer reaches of the Solar System. When the Vera Rubin Telescope is commissioned later this year, it’s hoped the Planet Nine hypothesis will be confirmed.

In 2016, Mike Brown, professor at the California Institute of Technology who is nicknamed “Pluto-killer” for advocating the downgrade, co-authored “Evidence