--- title: The Internet Has a Lot of Thoughts About 'Planet 9' description: Michael Brown, a Caltech astronomer, released a paper announcing the highly likely discovery of a new ninth planet in the solar system. canonical: https://time.com/4187172/planet-9-internet-reactions/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-20T18:53:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:28:59.162Z og:title: The Internet Has a Lot of Thoughts About 'Planet 9' og:description: New evidence of the planet was recently released og:url: https://time.com/4187172/planet-9-internet-reactions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Has a Lot of Thoughts About 'Planet 9' twitter:description: New evidence of the planet was recently released twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Internet Has a Lot of Thoughts About 'Planet 9'  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 20, 2016 6:53 PM CUT  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 20, 2016 6:53 PM CUT [Michael Brown](https://twitter.com/plutokiller?lang=en "undefined"), the Caltech astronomer widely known as the lead advocate for [Pluto’s demotion](http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2098150,00.html "undefined") to a “dwarf planet,” released a paper on Wednesday announcing the highly likely discovery of a new ninth planet in the solar system. This new world is being referred to as “Planet 9,” and has quickly become the punchline of many jokes in the realm of social media. > [](https://twitter.com/plutokiller/status/689835455760609280) **Read More:** [New ‘Planet 9’ May Be Next to Join Our Solar System](http://time.com/4184942/planet-9-new-pluto-solar-system/?xid=homepage "undefined") **Many can’t help but think about Pluto:** > [](https://twitter.com/yayitsrob/status/689843266364272640) > [](https://twitter.com/Keyser7564/status/689864457720352769) > [](https://twitter.com/OriginalPSP/status/689864478251360256) > [](https://twitter.com/ryancassin/status/689833080601731073) **While others felt** [**the name**](http://time.com/4186763/new-planet-9-discovery-pluto-poll/ "undefined") **could use some work:** > [](https://twitter.com/SarcasticRover/status/689853958806863872) > [](https://twitter.com/damnyouwillis/status/689865772504649728) > [](https://twitter.com/ItsMagi/status/689874521902358528) > [](https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/689837387791360000) **Some even proposed interesting theories about the new planet:** > [](https://twitter.com/JedadiahLeland/status/689866016743010304) > [](https://twitter.com/Pappiness/status/689869742933463040) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4187172/planet-9-internet-reactions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4187172/planet-9-internet-reactions/"},"headline":"The Internet Has a Lot of Thoughts About 'Planet 9'","datePublished":"2016-01-20T18:53:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:28:59.162Z","description":"New evidence of the planet was recently released","url":"https://time.com/4187172/planet-9-internet-reactions/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Space","Internet","Science topic","planets","solar system"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4187172/planet-9-internet-reactions/","name":"The Internet Has a Lot of Thoughts About 'Planet 9'"}}]}] ```