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Scientists are awaiting the release of data gathered by Nasa's Wise telescope, which they believe could prove the existing of a new planet, currently named Tyche - a gas giant up to four times the mass of Jupiter and thought to be present in the Oort Cloud, the most remote region of our solar system. Tyche's orbit would be 15,000 times farther from the Sun than Earth's and 375 times farther than Pluto's, which explains why it has remained so elusive up to now.

Nasa is due to release the potentially revealing data in April, and many astrophysicists believe it could reveal Tyche within two years, and could potentially replace Pluto as a new ninth planet in the solar system. Whether it would become the new ninth planet would be decided by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The main argument against is that Tyche probably formed around another star and was later captured by the Sun's gravitational field so the IAU may in fact choose to create a whole new category for Tyche.

You can read the full story on the Independent website.

This news item originally appeared in The Independent newspaper.