Astronomers baffled by discovery of mystery object 200km in diameter orbiting backwards beyond Neptune

ASTRONOMERS are baffled by the discovery of a mystery object 200km in diameter orbiting around the sun backwards.

The object was spotted in the outer solar system past Neptune by the Pan-STARRS telescope and is moving in the opposite direction to the rest of the planets.

3

3

The object has been dubbed Niku - the Chinese adjective for rebellious.

Queens University astronomer Michele Bannister said planetary systems are controlled by the flat plane of dust and gas surrounding them.

This forces everything to spin in the same direction.

RELATED STORIES

AUTISM BREAKTHROUGH

Ground-breaking nasal spray treatment for disorder could be available in five years

Feline sexy

Behind the scenes of the female porn revolution - and how it's changing women's sex lives

IS YOUR CAR ON THE LIST?

Volkswagen confirms security bug that means 100 million cars could be opened by hackers

Out of this world

NASA thinks Venus could have been lived on for 2 billion years… and was a lot like Earth

She said: "It's wonderful that it's so confusing.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what the theoretical analysis do once they get their hands on this one."

Senior astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center Matthew Holman said a force must have acted upon it.

3

He said: "It suggests that there's more going on in the outer solar system than we're fully aware of."

Mr Holman initially believed Planet Nine - a hypothetical large planet in the far outher Solar System - could have influenced Niku's orbit.

However, the object was too close to our solar system for Planet Nine to have any influence.

Mr Holman admitted: "We don't know the answer."