Tyche (planet) facts for kids
Tyche is the nickname for a possible giant planet. It might be found in the Solar System's Oort cloud. This cloud is a huge area of icy objects far beyond Neptune. Tyche is one of several planets that scientists think might exist beyond Neptune.
Astronomer John Matese first suggested Tyche in 1999. He works at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Matese and Daniel Whitmire studied how long-period comets move. They noticed a pattern that made them think Tyche could be real.
They believed that if Tyche existed, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope should have seen it. WISE is a special telescope that looks at heat (infrared light). However, many astronomers did not agree that Tyche was real. In 2014, NASA announced that WISE had not found such a planet. This means Tyche likely does not exist.
Tyche is also a name used in the Nickelodeon TV show The Fairly OddParents. In the show, it is called "Yugopotamia." This is the home planet of the character Mark Chang.
Images for kids
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General size comparison between the Sun, a low-mass star, a brown dwarf, and the planets Jupiter and Earth
See also
In Spanish: Tyche (planeta hipotético) para niños
