It exists in theory and the math says it's out there but the unseen Planet 9 might not be an original member of our solar system but is instead an exoplanet snatched from another star by our sun.

Researchers at the Lund University, Sweden used data from a computer simulation to conclude this huge planet 10 times the mass of Earth is a visitor pulled from its solar system by the Sun's gravity.

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The existence of Planet 9 was first broached in 2014 by astronomers Chad Trujillo and Scott Sheppard. They believe there may be a "massive trans-Neptunian planet" on the outskirts of our solar system due to "similarities in the orbits" of distant objects that orbit Neptune.

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) earlier this year announced they'd found signs of Planet 9 using modeling and computer simulations. Then came the Swedish simulations.

"What we were arguing was that you could create this (Planet 9) around another star, and then the sun could capture it, in a close encounter," said Alexander Mustill, a researcher in the department of astronomy and theoretical physics at Lund University.

"We argue that this is how you could put this planet on a wide orbit around the sun. You first create it around another star, and then the sun captures it."

The simulation by the Swedes suggest Planet 9 does exist but that it was pulled from its orbit around another star. This occurred when our Sun passed another star. Another theory is Planet 9 was pushed to the edge of its original solar system by other planets.

"Planet 9 may very well have been shoved by other planets, and when it ended up in an orbit that was too wide around its own star, our Sun may have taken the opportunity to steal and capture Planet 9 from its original star," said Mustill.

TagsPlanet 9, Lund University, California Institute of Technology