Planet #9

[gimmepie]

So, looks like we probably don't know the solar system as well as we thought. Scientists from Caltech have discovered evidence of a ninth planet in our solar system. A true planet about ten times as massive as the Earth that would probably take about 10-20 thousand years to orbit the Earth.

More information here: https://www.caltech.edu/news/caltech-researchers-find-evidence-real-ninth-planet-49523

 

[esperance]

This is actually really exciting news! It's awesome to see such fantastical discoveries being made.

Now if only they can find the physical evidence to back up the math. Then we can talk about another planet.

 

[Check10]

Woohoo, we have a new Pluto!

It's just like 5,000 times larger. :p

It's pretty cool to hear about this though.

 

[Somewhere_]

Pluto has been replaced! Im pretty glad because I remember being disappointed when Pluto was announced to not be a planet, but a dwarf planet instead.

 

[Nah]

That thing's pretty damn far out there. I mean:

orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles)

I'm surprised they were even able to notice it at all.

Wonder what they'll name it once they really find it.

 

[Check10]

My guess is Janus or Minerva.

 

[ArtZaqX__]

Neptune was also predicted mathematically first before being discovered/observed due to the irregularities in orbit of Uranus which could be explained back then if a major gravitational source was disturbing its orbit. Lets hope these calculations turn out to be true.

 

[Eden]

So Planet X (I know at this point it's more like Planet IX, but I don't care) is more solidified? The theory that a planet exists at the edge of the solar system has been around for a long time, namely because it would help explain the wacky orbit of some of the dwarf planets and miscellaneous objects past Neptune. I hope there's confirmation soon, but who really knows?

 

[gimmepie]

So Planet X (I know at this point it's more like Planet IX, but I don't care) is more solidified? The theory that a planet exists at the edge of the solar system has been around for a long time, namely because it would help explain the wacky orbit of some of the dwarf planets and miscellaneous objects past Neptune. I hope there's confirmation soon, but who really knows?

It is looking like it probably is there, weird to see that it is expected to be a gas giant though. Considering it's location I would have expected it to be made primarily of rock, or even ice, over gas. I also can't help but wonder if this might be the answer to the Nemesis theory, although that's a much more doubtful prospect.

Edit: Actually I definitely doubt the second part of that, I think that's more of an Oort Cloud thing.

 

[moon]

I find this SUPER COOL but also somewhat disturbing. A distant, almost wandering planet? Melancholia is still the single most disturbing movie I have seen, and I have seen at least three SAW movies.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

I'm seeing a lot of doubters of this ninth planet's existence and the evidence to support it, but maybe it's because they're still upset that Pluto got demoted as a planet, thus "ruining" their childhood, much like how science always "ruin" everything they know about certain subjects (I think this issue would work as its own thread).

 

[Thepowaofhax]

Definitely name it Janus. I'm pretty sure Janus has no Greek pantheology counterpart.

Well, if we do find it.

 

[Livewire]

Naming it either Janus or Minerva would be pretty cool I think. Assuming they can locate it and get some visuals first. Still somewhat odd that we haven't truly "discovered" it yet in this day and age.

 

[Nah]

Assuming they can locate it and get some visuals first. Still somewhat odd that we haven't truly "discovered" it yet in this day and age.

idk, how powerful are our telescopes? This thing is supposed to be roughly 56 billion miles away from the sun. Can we even see that far away/do the sun's rays even go out that far?

 

[gimmepie]

idk, how powerful are our telescopes? This thing is supposed to be roughly 56 billion miles away from the sun. Can we even see that far away/do the sun's rays even go out that far?

Well the strength of sunlight is apparently 1/r^2 where r is distance.

So the strength of sunlight would be 1.2311936 * 10^-28cd. That is a very, very small number so even ignoring the fact that some gas giants are borderline invisible anyway it's probably going to be a rather long time before we have any visual evidence of the planet.