Astronomers claim discovery of ‘10th planet’

AMERICAN scientists have discovered what they are excitedly claiming - but others dispute - should be recognised as the 10th planet in orbit around our sun.

The discovery will focus new attention on the groundbreaking work of the Irish astronomer and engineer Kenneth Essex Edgeworth, from Streete in Co Westmeath.

It is the largest object found in the Kuiper-Edgeworth Belt, a collection of material orbiting the sun beyond Neptune. Edgeworth predicted the existence of the Kuiper Belt in 1943.