It’s…not quite a cliché in science fiction, but it’s a well-worn premise: there’s another planet in our solar system, but we can’t see it. Why? It’s on the exact opposite side of the sun from earth, and takes the same amount of time for an orbit, so we can never, ever see it.
And speaking to history, it’s been around since the Ancient Greeks came up with the idea, and called it Antichthon, or “Counter-Earth.” If you’re a comics fan, you may remember this being used in storylines with the High Evolutionary in Marvel Comics, while the “New Krypton” storyline that ran through the Superman family of titles pre-New 52. It’s been used in dozens of other stories, TV shows and movies over the years.
So could there be one over there?
Fraser Cain of Universe Today explains, but the answer starts with the letter “n.”
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