How Math, And Not A Telescope, May Have Found A New Planet

The scientists who made headlines this week by announcing evidence for a new planet in our solar system are basing the claim entirely on a mathematical model. Nobody’s seen the thing, but the math says it’s there. This isn’t the first time scientists have found a new planet before really finding it, but this technique also has produced outright blunders. This time, though, astronomers say there’s reason to take the new potential planet seriously.