List of hypothetical Solar System objects


A hypothetical Solar System object is a planet, natural satellite, subsatellite or similar body in the Solar System whose existence is not known, but has been inferred from observational scientific evidence. Over the years a number of hypothetical planets have been proposed, and many have been disproved. However, even today there is scientific speculation about the possibility of planets yet unknown that may exist beyond the range of our current knowledge.

Planets

Moons

Stars

  • Nemesis, a brown or red dwarf whose existence was suggested in 1984 by physicist Richard A. Muller, based on purported periodicities in mass extinctions within Earth's fossil record. Its regular passage through the Solar System's Oort cloud would send large numbers of comets towards Earth, massively increasing the chances of an impact. Also believed to be the cause of minor planet Sedna's unusual elongated orbit. The existence of the Nemesis in the modern Solar system was ruled out in 2014 after the infrared survey performed by WISE spacecraft found no brown dwarf up to from the Sun.
  • Raymond Arthur Lyttleton's model on the formation of the Solar System had a former binary star system by the Sun, which merged and broke into two due to rotational instability, forming Jupiter and Saturn.
  • Fred Hoyle's model on Solar System formation had a former and more massive binary companion to the Sun that exploded in a supernova due to nuclear fusion failing within its interior and it collapsing as a result. The star's supernova remnant would be captured by the Sun and shaped into a protoplanetary disk, from which the planets formed.

Other

  • A population of asteroids called Vulcanoids could exist wholly within the orbit of Mercury, but so far none have been detected; see Vulcan, above.
  • One assumption suggests that the hypothetical Planet Nine is actually a primordial black hole.