Space & Astronomy

Could Planet Nine cause mass extinctions ?

By T.K. Randall
March 31, 2016

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) Earlier this week we reported on how planetary scientists Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin from the California Institute of Technology had discovered new evidence pointing to the existence of a previously undiscovered Neptune-sized world in the outer solar system - the enigmatic Planet Nine.

Now in a new paper by retired astrophysics professor Daniel Whitmire, the existence of this ninth planet has been linked to something rather sinister - periodic mass extinction events.According to Whitmire, these extinctions, which occur every 27 million years or so, may be caused by comets being flung towards us by Planet Nine's eccentric orbit through the Kuiper Belt.

Like with the asteroid that brought about the extinction of the dinosaurs, these heavenly bodies could easily be responsible for global disruptions capable of wiping out a multitude of species.

While at the moment it is practically impossible to prove that this is actually the case, if astronomers can determine once and for all if this enigmatic world really does exist out in the far reaches of the solar system then Whitmire's theory - and others like it - are likely to hold a great deal more weight.

Source: Independent

Tags: Planet X, Planet Nine, Solar System