The Kuiper Belt May Be Hiding a Giant Secret

Boring Science · Jun 24, 2026 · 2h 40m · transcript

🌌 "The Kuiper Belt is a ring of icy worlds beyond Neptune—and it might hide a secret larger than any known planet."Researchers have found a puzzling warp in the orbits of distant Kuiper Belt objects, suggesting a hidden world dubbed "Planet Y." This Mercury-to-Earth-sized planet would orbit 100–200 times farther from the Sun than Earth, tilting objects by about 15 degrees [citation:5][citation:7]. Unlike the distant Planet Nine, this one is closer and smaller [citation:6]. A decade-long survey by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile may confirm or refute its existence within the next few…