<p>Maybe the Gaia space telescope has already caught it? First data release in <a href="http://sci.esa.int/gaia/56838-gaia-data-processing-consortium-meets-ahead-of-first-catalogue-release-next-year/" rel="nofollow">mid-2016</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-21T05:50:03.920Z
That would be so awesome
joseph.hainline
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-21T18:52:35.147Z
Unless it's in the near part of its orbit, it'll be too faint for GAIA to see.  A Neptune size object (slightly larger than this potential planet would be), would drop below GAIA's 20th magnitude limit at about 500 AU.  I did the math as part of [another answer](http://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/13279/186).
Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-21T21:01:46.780Z
@DanNeely I thought it could see more, but GAIA finding more KBO's along the suggested orbit of P9 should help test this.
LocalFluff
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-25T17:06:00.687Z
LocalFluff has a good point, but an even broader point is that many discoveries actually have at least one "precovery" from years early. Pluto was this way. They found precovery photos from 1915 but no one noticed what it was (because it wasn't moving), thus the actual discovery by Clyde Tombough in 1930. The cite from wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto#cite_note-Hoyt-34 So maybe we've already photoed it but just never noticed it moving (because it is really far away and therefore really slow in its orbit.)
DrZ214
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-21T01:23:23.750Z
2016-01-21T01:23:23.750Z
LocalFluff
<p>Those are model calculations, which hint to the existence of a possible body of about 10-times the mass of Earth. Calling this a discovery would clearly be premature. The confidence level is just a little above the "evidence" level of 3 sigma, under the assumption, that the discoveries of the KBO objects leading to the inference aren't observationally biased.
It's a long way to direct observation, since precise orbital data haven't been inferred.
Another option is, that there has been a planet. But it might have left our Solar system. Hence predicting a date for direct observation doesn't appear reasonable at the moment.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-20T20:03:07.337Z
2016-01-20T20:11:10.360Z
2016-01-20T20:11:10.360Z
Gerald
<p>Caltech just <a href="http://www.caltech.edu/news/caltech-researchers-find-evidence-real-ninth-planet-49523" rel="noreferrer">released a report</a> that says there is possibly a large (10 earth mass) planet in a remote orbit (10 - 20 thousand year) that explains a lot of observations of Kuiper Belt objects. How long could it take for this to be confirmed or refuted observationally?</p>

<p>See <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6poHQ2h00ZA" rel="noreferrer">this video</a> </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-20T18:46:53.573Z
”*Pics or it didn't happen!*” ;-)
gerrit
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-21T01:36:11.807Z
5 years according to [this article](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/feature-astronomers-say-neptune-sized-planet-lurks-unseen-solar-system): "Batygin and Brown are using Subaru to look for Planet X—and they are coordinating their efforts with their erstwhile competitors, Sheppard and Trujillo, who have also joined the hunt with Subaru. Brown says it will take about 5 years for the two teams to search most of the area where Planet X could be lurking."
j-g-faustus
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-26T18:52:43.350Z
Related: [Why hasn't the "9th Planet" been detected already?](http://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/13330)
Martin Schröder
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-22T23:18:44.930Z
Nice update 1 year later on where we are: http://oklo.org/2017/01/21/planet-nine-a-one-year-update/
joseph.hainline
<solar-system><planet><observational-astronomy><9th-planet>
How long should it take for us to observationally determine if Caltech's Planet Nine is really there?
joseph.hainline
# How long should it take for us to observationally determine if Caltech's Planet Nine is really there?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-01-20)

Caltech just [released a report](http://www.caltech.edu/news/caltech-researchers-find-evidence-real-ninth-planet-49523) that says there is possibly a large (10 earth mass) planet in a remote orbit (10 - 20 thousand year) that explains a lot of observations of Kuiper Belt objects. How long could it take for this to be confirmed or refuted observationally?

See [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6poHQ2h00ZA)

**Tags:** solar-system, planet, observational-astronomy, 9th-planet

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: ”*Pics or it didn't happen!*” ;-)  
> **username_2**: 5 years according to [this article](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/feature-astronomers-say-neptune-sized-planet-lurks-unseen-solar-system): "Batygin and Brown are using Subaru to look for Planet X—and they are coordinating their efforts with their erstwhile competitors, Sheppard and Trujillo, who have also joined the hunt with Subaru. Brown says it will take about 5 years for the two teams to search most of the area where Planet X could be lurking."  
> **username_3**: Related: [Why hasn't the "9th Planet" been detected already?](http://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/13330)  
> **username_0**: Nice update 1 year later on where we are: http://oklo.org/2017/01/21/planet-nine-a-one-year-update/  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_7 on 2016-01-20. Score: 13 | Accepted answer

Those are model calculations, which hint to the existence of a possible body of about 10-times the mass of Earth. Calling this a discovery would clearly be premature. The confidence level is just a little above the "evidence" level of 3 sigma, under the assumption, that the discoveries of the KBO objects leading to the inference aren't observationally biased.
It's a long way to direct observation, since precise orbital data haven't been inferred.
Another option is, that there has been a planet. But it might have left our Solar system. Hence predicting a date for direct observation doesn't appear reasonable at the moment.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2016-01-21. Score: 3

Maybe the Gaia space telescope has already caught it? First data release in [mid-2016](http://sci.esa.int/gaia/56838-gaia-data-processing-consortium-meets-ahead-of-first-catalogue-release-next-year/).

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: That would be so awesome  
> **username_5**: Unless it's in the near part of its orbit, it'll be too faint for GAIA to see.  A Neptune size object (slightly larger than this potential planet would be), would drop below GAIA's 20th magnitude limit at about 500 AU.  I did the math as part of [another answer](http://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/13279/186).  
> **username_4**: @DanNeely I thought it could see more, but GAIA finding more KBO's along the suggested orbit of P9 should help test this.  
> **username_6**: username_4 has a good point, but an even broader point is that many discoveries actually have at least one "precovery" from years early. Pluto was this way. They found precovery photos from 1915 but no one noticed what it was (because it wasn't moving), thus the actual discovery by Clyde Tombough in 1930. The cite from wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto#cite_note-Hoyt-34 So maybe we've already photoed it but just never noticed it moving (because it is really far away and therefore really slow in its orbit.)  

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