"How our telescopes missed this huge green and yellow body in space all these years, is a mystery to us," said Gerd Voller, chief astronomer at NASA.

"We had one hint from an amateur stargazer in Rio in 1998, but we never followed up on it as he was prone to exaggeration." When pressed, Voller admitted that NASA's team blundered the handling of the piece of information and it slipped from its grasp.

When contacted by GraphicToons, Ray Naldo, the amateur astronomer, who first spotted the planet said he had a fit when NASA rejected his claim four years ago. "I was furious. Thank god they finally acknowledged my finding. I was on my knees on my roof using my trusty old telescope when I spotted the planet with the unusual black crescent. It was an absolute thrill, and I must say, even better than sex."

NASA has yet to name the new planet, but the astronomy community has already dubbed it Planet R, in honour of Ray. Undoubtedly, Planet R is assured its place among the stars forever.