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New evidence suggests a ninth planet lurking at the edge of the solar system
Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology announced Wednesday that they have found new evidence of a giant icy planet lurking in the darkness of our solar system far beyond the orbit of Pluto. They are calling it "Planet Nine."
Their paper, published in the Astronomical Journal, describes the planet as about five to 10 times as massive as the Earth. But the authors, astronomers Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin, have not observed the planet directly.
Instead, they have inferred its existence from the motion of recently discovered dwarf planets and other small objects in the outer solar system. Those smaller bodies have orbits that appear to be influenced by the gravity of a hidden planet a "massive perturber." The astronomers suggest it might have been flung into deep space long ago by the gravitational force of Jupiter or Saturn.
Telescopes on at least two continents are searching for the object, which on average is 20 times farther away than the eighth planet, Neptune. If "Planet Nine" exists, it's big. Its estimated mass would make it about two to four times the diameter of the Earth, distinguishing it as the fifth-largest planet after Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. But at such extreme distances, it would reflect so little sunlight that it could evade even the most powerful telescopes.
Confirmation of its existence would reconfigure the models of the solar system. Pluto, discovered in 1930, spent three-quarters of a century as the iconic ninth planet. Then, a decade ago, Pluto received a controversial demotion, in large part because of Brown.
His observations of the outer solar system identified many small worlds there some close to the size of Pluto and prompted the International Astronomical Union to reconsider the definition of a planet. The IAU voted to change Pluto's classification to "dwarf planet," a decision mocked repeatedly last summer when NASA's New Horizons probe flew past Pluto and revealed a world with an atmosphere, weather and a volatile and dynamically reworked surface.
A planet of that magnitude, I hope, would be a game changer, not only for exploration, but culturally. We need a frontier to remind us constantly of what really matters, what it really takes to live, and what we are really capable of.
Further, how do we get there? It seems that this would require quasi-interstellar propulsion technology. The possibilities are really exciting. It's not clear yet, and probably won't be until we get real pictures, whether its a super-earth, or a gas dwarf, and what we can do with it. But in either case, it probably has it's own harem of moons.
Last edited by Excelsior (2016-01-20 12:34:12)
The Former Commodore
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You're getting bored with Mars?
Surely a planet that massive is inherently unsuited to human beings - given the unpleasant (for humans) G forces.
New evidence suggests a ninth planet lurking at the edge of the solar system
Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology announced Wednesday that they have found new evidence of a giant icy planet lurking in the darkness of our solar system far beyond the orbit of Pluto. They are calling it "Planet Nine."
Their paper, published in the Astronomical Journal, describes the planet as about five to 10 times as massive as the Earth. But the authors, astronomers Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin, have not observed the planet directly.
Instead, they have inferred its existence from the motion of recently discovered dwarf planets and other small objects in the outer solar system. Those smaller bodies have orbits that appear to be influenced by the gravity of a hidden planet a "massive perturber." The astronomers suggest it might have been flung into deep space long ago by the gravitational force of Jupiter or Saturn.
Telescopes on at least two continents are searching for the object, which on average is 20 times farther away than the eighth planet, Neptune. If "Planet Nine" exists, it's big. Its estimated mass would make it about two to four times the diameter of the Earth, distinguishing it as the fifth-largest planet after Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. But at such extreme distances, it would reflect so little sunlight that it could evade even the most powerful telescopes.
Confirmation of its existence would reconfigure the models of the solar system. Pluto, discovered in 1930, spent three-quarters of a century as the iconic ninth planet. Then, a decade ago, Pluto received a controversial demotion, in large part because of Brown.
His observations of the outer solar system identified many small worlds there some close to the size of Pluto and prompted the International Astronomical Union to reconsider the definition of a planet. The IAU voted to change Pluto's classification to "dwarf planet," a decision mocked repeatedly last summer when NASA's New Horizons probe flew past Pluto and revealed a world with an atmosphere, weather and a volatile and dynamically reworked surface.
A planet of that magnitude, I hope, would be a game changer, not only for exploration, but culturally. We need a frontier to remind us constantly of what really matters, what it really takes to live, and what we are really capable of.
Further, how do we get there? It seems that this would require quasi-interstellar propulsion technology. The possibilities are really exciting. It's not clear yet, and probably won't be until we get real pictures, whether its a super-earth, or a gas dwarf, and what we can do with it. But in either case, it probably has it's own harem of moons.
Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com
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Surface escape velocity would be about three times greater than Earth, surface gravity twice as great. At that distance, the planet probably has a dense hydrogen atmosphere. A ground launch h2/o2 rocket would need several stages to reach orbit and the final mass ratio would be about 4000.
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Pioneer 10 & 11, Voyager 1 & 2 are all on trajectories leaving the solar system. A probe built like that could reach this planet. New Horizons sped past Pluto, is looking for a Kuiper Belt object to observe before it too leaves our solar system. So we know how to reach this new planet, no matter how far it is.
Designation "X" used to mean the 10th planet. "X" means unknown, but it's also the Roman numeral for 10. So the next planet after Pluto would be "X". Then one astronomer did discover a planet, and its diameter was greater than Pluto. If Pluto is a planet, so is this one. So it's the 10th planet. He wanted to give it a name that started with "X" because it's the 10th planet. He came up with a name from a TV show: Xena warrior princess. But the IAU didn't like that. The rule was whoever discovers an object gets to name it, so if they didn't like the name then they should just discover an object themselves. They can name what they discover. But no, they had to overrule him. I suggested to the local chapter of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada that they call it "Xenia", a minor character from Greek mythology. It also starts with "X" and is the basis of the name "Xena", so honours the discoverer and the stuffy attitudes of the IAU. And the original name is in the Greek alphabet, any English spelling is a translation. But no one listened to me. Then the astronomer found a small rock orbit it. If it's a planet, then that rock is a moon. He named the moon "Gabrielle", side kick from "Xena warrior princess". The IAU screamed "You are NOT calling it THAT!" So much for my attempts to save the guy's butt. They named it Eris. There's already an astroid named Eros, the names are far too similar. I wanted to support the rule that the discoverer gets to name it. This incident established a precedent that they don't. The IAU now says they get to name celestial objects, not the discoverer. So every astronomer is screwed.
I keep think of this every time anyone says "Planet X".
Back to the topic. A mathematician did a calculation of orbits of the planets. He showed that our solar system has the maximum number of gas giants for a star the size of our Sun. If there were more gas giants, one of the planets would be thrown out by gravitational interactions. In fact, some scientists think this did happen, that our early solar system did have another planet and it was thrown out. Planets Neptune and Uranus appear to have formed in the opposite order they are now. And mathematics shows Neptune should have been pushed out to where it is now by gravity from the other gas giants, and as it did so its gravity would push Kuiper belt objects. As those small objects are pushed out, they would move from circular orbits to inclined elliptical orbits. Pluto is in such an inclined elliptical orbit, so they think Pluto is just a Kuiper belt object that was pushed. So is this new plant that one? The extra planet that was kicked out? Maybe.
Another possibility is it isn't a planet at all. Percival Lowell and William H. Pickering calculated possible locations for a planet beyond Neptune based on perturbations of the known planets. They calculated several possible locations. Clyde Tombaugh found Pluto at one of those locations using the Lowell observatory. So astronomers thought they found it. Then the moon Charon was discovered, and they were able to calculate the mass of Pluto. It's far too small to cause those perturbations. Since then astronomers discovered several dwarf planets. Looks like there is no single large planet, it's just a bunch of small ones. Now this story that claims they calculated the position of a single large planet based on perturbations of dwarf planets. But they can't find it. Sounds like the same story all over again. To quote Yogi Berra: "It’s like déjà vu all over again." Could very well be a bunch of small objects, no single large planet.
Last edited by RobertDyck (2016-01-20 13:29:38)
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While the forum was down, I was active on facebook. Several discussed this on The Mars Society facebook group. The initial post was this:
There were many posts to that discussion, but late last night the entire discussion was completely deleted. No trace. Facebook sends email notices of facebook groups I follow, so some of the posts are in my email, but that's the only record. The only way I know that could happen is if a group administrator or the individual who made the initial post deliberately deleted it.
Anyway, some further updates. This image labels the Kuiper belt objects in question:
Both images are from this article on Space.com, with video:
'Planet Nine' May Exist: New Evidence for Another World in Our Solar System
Today they posted this:
How Astronomers Could Actually See 'Planet Nine'
"It's actually not obscenely faint," said Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena. Brown and lead author Konstantin Batygin, also of Caltech, wrote the new paper laying out the evidence for the putative planet's existence.
"In fact, it's bright enough over a lot of its orbit that we should have seen it already, if it's in the closest approaches to the sun," Brown told Space.com. Indeed, at closest approach, "you could almost see it with some backyard telescopes," he added. (Planet Nine's orbit likely brings it as close as 200 to 300 astronomical units, or AU, to the sun, and takes it as far away as 600 to 1,200 AU, Brown said. One AU is the average distance from Earth to the sun — about 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers.)
...
"Even at its most distant, and at the smallest guesses of how big it is, it's like 24th or 25th magnitude," Brown said
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Surface escape velocity would be about three times greater than Earth, surface gravity twice as great. At that distance, the planet probably has a dense hydrogen atmosphere. A ground launch h2/o2 rocket would need several stages to reach orbit and the final mass ratio would be about 4000.
So we'd feel twice as heavy as we are on Earth and not have access to any meaningful solar radiation for power purposes! This planet is not even a starter for colonisation - even if it exists, that is (though I am sure we would all love to have some close up pics).
Come on guys,
Keep your eyes on the prize:
Mars.
Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com
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The past timeline of discovery of trying to explain and find Planet X...
One of the troubles with trying to find the planet from earth is the slow pace at which it moves against the background stars. It would need a very long perciecly timed imaging to find it by dithering the images....
Maybe the telescopes that are stationary might have a better chance of finding it quicker as we can look more accurately in one location for long periods of time.
Image suggests where to look but its a big field stilll...
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What I find interesting is that there are 2 tilted inclinations for the grouping of drawfs that most have been influenced by something or by multiple reasons. Is there any programs that can regress the orbital positions to when they all are near Neptune for a timeline to when the large planet or start came passing through?
edit fixed linked image
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What I find interesting is that there are 2 tilted inclinations for the grouping of drawfs that most have been influenced by something or by multiple reasons. Is there any programs that can regress the orbital positions to when they all are near Neptune for a timeline to when the large planet or start came passing through?
I presume that the software our favorite Planet Killer used had to be capable of simulating the orbits of all the objects you're interested in. You might want to contact Caltech. I'm sure others already have.
Fun online toy:
Edited to add content:
Orbit Reconstruction, Simulation and Analysis
Last edited by kbd512 (2016-01-21 20:38:37)
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The surface gravity depends upon how dense the planet is. If it has the same density as Terra, then the surface gravity is ~2.15x Terra, assuming it has 10x the mass. But that is quite unlikely, since it's probably made of mainly ice. If it is an ice giant like Uranus and Neptune, then it probably has a *lower* surface gravity.
Things could get very interesting if it has about the same surface gravity, a super thick nitrogen atmosphere, water clouds, and a substantial temperature difference across altitudes.
Use what is abundant and build to last
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Surface of Pluto varies in temperature from -240°C to -218°C, according to calculated estimates before New Horizons. I haven't seen actual measured temperatures yet. This new planet is even farther from the Sun. Nitrogen freezes solid at -210°C. Vapour pressure graph goes down to about -225°C. At -220°C it's about 0.01 bar or 10 mbar. Sounds like Mars pressure, but gas would migrate to the lowest pressure area. That's so cold it would freeze out, leaving no pressure. And that's using Pluto temperatures; farther out expect it to be frozen ice covered in frozen gasses. Atmosphere of hydrogen and/or helium?
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Looking at the kepler belt and comparing it to the asteriod belt with regards to Jupiter what ever planet would look much the same or large to have the sam influence in order to keep the band of small planetoids in check.
here is a list of the hyp planets that we might have
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_(h … al_planet) which was meantioned earlier as being between the sun and mercuries orbit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_( … ical_star) postulated as being a Red or Brown Dwarf in the 1 light year distance but currently not found
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telisto_( … al_planet) dubbed over the years as Planet X and Tyche was ruled out after a WISE survey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyche_(hy … al_planet) is a purposed gas giant located in the Solar System's Oort cloud
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Surface escape velocity would be about three times greater than Earth, surface gravity twice as great. At that distance, the planet probably has a dense hydrogen atmosphere. A ground launch h2/o2 rocket would need several stages to reach orbit and the final mass ratio would be about 4000.
We have not a clue as to its density. Saturn has 95 times the mass of the Earth, but its gravity is about equal to Earth at its given radius. There is no reason for a planet that is about 800 AU away to be made mostly of rock, The known planet that comes closest to 10 Earth masses in our Solar System is Uranus, which has 14.5 Earth masses, the gravity of Uranus is 0.794 times that of Earth. One question is would such a large planet be a gas giant or something in between a gas giant and a solid terrestrial planet, a solid planet could still be made largely of ice.
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Its not number 10 but is still more of that same pointing finger that says its out there....
New 'large and bright' dwarf planet discovered in our solar system
The new dwarf planet, dubbed 2015 RR245, has such a huge, highly elliptical orbit that it takes an astonishing 700 Earth years to complete one trip around the sun, and it ventures over 120 times further away from the sun than our planet does.
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The solar system's mysterious, undiscovered Planet Nine
Astronomers think a large planet exists far past Pluto. But with powerful telescopes like Hubble viewing distant galaxies, why have we never seen it?
I am wondering if the global warming cycle and ice age earth cycles match up to where we might find this planet x?
second such topic The 10th or is it the 9th Planet, is there a Super-Earth in our Solar?
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A NASA-funded website called Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 is seeking assistance from anyone with a computer in sifting through short infrared movies created from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission images. Your goal is to separate potentially unknown celestial objects from the imaging artifacts, optical ghosts, and stars that were captured by WISE's instruments. While computers have improved in distinguishing between the two, the human eye is still the superior method of discovery.
Theoretical Planet 9 may be a rogue planet not native to our solar system
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I think this is really the right place to put this:
https://sorendreier.com/extraordinary-o … anet-nine/
Of course you can read. The interesting factors (To me), are that they describe and object which they describe as "Rocky" (Why?), which may be as large as a dwarf planet, and who's orbit further suggests the possibility of planet 9.
If there is a planet 9, apparently it could be a "Mini-Neptune", or a "Super Earth". Either would be a pleasant discovery.
The existence of moons around Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, suggests we could hope that not all of the 10 Earth masses of the speculated planet would be in the central body, but that there might be moons as well.
Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Enceladus suggest a hope that something rocky like Io, or with a sea or ocean might exist out there. I would hope for any of these, but would really like to see something like an Io, or maybe like our Moon.
It would depend on the method of formation. If formed like Jupiter's moons, or Enceladus, then from accretion, but perhaps if formed like our Moon formed by collision. Either way there may be a chance of the availability of rocky materials out there for humans to use. But only I would think if the primary object was a super Earth. The orbit of planet 9 (If it exists), might facilitate a collision with a Kepler Belt object over the course of the history of the solar system, so maybe something like our Moon, but maybe a bit wetter?
Such a setup would be convenient for the human race eventually expanding out to the Oort Cloud and perhaps to other solar systems.
Done
Last edited by Void (2018-05-18 20:58:26)
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Looking at Jupiter and Saturns systems also mean that the total mass can be distributed amoungst the proported planet 9's mass and does no need to be a single body. The mass also can be just the sum of mass within the angle as well all at different distances just circling at the same resonance.
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I have thought about it.
Really, I just have biased preferences.
I would least like a solitary Mini-Neptune.
Might like a Super Earth, just because then we could study one.
Would prefer a Super Earth with a giant rocky moon.
If not then settle for what you get really
......
Quote:
The mass also can be just the sum of mass within the angle as well all at different distances just circling at the same resonance.
And if that indicates a cluster or association of resonating objects, then good. Lets hope for some Earth and Mars sized objects.
And so I present to the jury evidence of a collision process that modifies worlds.
Haumea:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haumea
16 Psyche:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche
So if there are Earth and Mars sized objects out there, we could be optimistic and hope that they met with a collision which striped them of their volatile overburden, exposing rocky surface, or at least removing enough ice for a buried ocean.
We could hope that it happened relatively recently (500 million years??????????).
What am I after? Well, I want an object somewhere between the size of Earth and Mars which had a recent significant collision which removed overburden, and set up that planet for plate tectonics.
Otherwise I want an Earth sized planet which formed in the inner solar system, but was partially ejected not out of the solar system, but to the outer solar system. Yes, I very well won't get what I want.
But the reason I would want it is that while the spreading ocean plates would perhaps fume with volatile substances, the solar wind would not strip them away due to a presumed geomagnetic field. They would condense, forming what I would hope would be a relatively thin coating which would come to coat most of the planet, except where the ocean plates were breaking apart. There we might find hot rocks. relatively dry. A geothermal power source for settlers.
As for the subduction zones:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subduction
Would see ice bunch up, and to some extent be drawn down with the subducted plate. Eruptions would occur, and at the subduction zone might be geothermal melted water under ice.
Anyway such a world would have geothermal power very far out from the sun, which might be a nice feature to exploit. But of course perhaps not required if fusion power is easy by the time humans might have arrived there. However the exposed rocky spreading zones would be a resource to exploit.
So this would be a way station to the stars.
......
If you don't like that then read this:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-mad … -20170802/
Oh! I think they are getting close.
Actually I think that it is likely that planets often try to form binary. So do stars, and so do apparently asteroids.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_asteroid
Lots of ways apparently, to form a binary.
Once you have a binary, and if you have influxing solar disk materials, why can't both binaries grow into distinct but gravitationally linked objects? They would then be formed of the same materials.
......
I really am beginning to have doubts about the soundness of the scientific community.
Example:
Red Dwarf Systems; Particularly Trappist-1
I am told:
Red Dwarf Systems may be smothered by very dense Hydrogen atmospheres.
Red Dwarf Systems probably have had their atmospheres stripped away.
Red Dwarf Systems probably have too much water to support life.
Oh? OK so some how they have too much water for life, but their atmospheres have been stripped away. Hmmm......
......
OK then I read that Oxygen is an indicator of life around interstellar planets.
But Mars had an Oxygen atmosphere, which may very well have resulted from photolysis, with the loss of Hydrogen to space. In fact the atmosphere may have had too much Oxygen for life to survive.
And then I read that water migrating to the Earths core, may be splitting, where the Hydrogen is binding to rocks, and that the Oxygen builds up, possibly as and Oxide, and that there could be massive eruptions of Oxygen to the surface of the Earth, and that is where the Oxygen atmosphere comes from.
......
And then I truly need to laugh, and I am in a very good mood. I get that way, when I have done a leg workout at the gym
(Until I get sore grumpy grandpa legs tomorrow).
Anyway this today here:
http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=8241
Put some good stuff there about human causation of global warming (Over the last at least 10,000 years perhaps), but apparently politically correct members cant read that stuff
.....
Really, as Johnny Carson said at least once "I don't make the jokes, I just tell them".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Carson
It is actually fun.
......
Maybe I are a skyintist also????
.....
Bye Now
Done.
No, actually not
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0642290/
Quote:
Kelly has unknowingly created a new color chemical called Bleen and Al quickly finds out that she has created a new formula that grows hair.
Director: Amanda Bearse
Writers: Dan O'Keefe, Michael G. Moye (created by) | 1 more credit »
Stars: Ed O'Neill, Katey Sagal, Amanda Bearse | See full cast & crew »
.....
Really had one of my better days. Thanks. (Diet cola in large quantities does this)
Last edited by Void (2018-05-19 18:17:50)
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Looking at Jupiter and Saturns systems also mean that the total mass can be distributed amoungst the proported planet 9's mass and does no need to be a single body. The mass also can be just the sum of mass within the angle as well all at different distances just circling at the same resonance.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Colle … s_999.html
I can see that as when the comet went by mars how disturb the enviroment of mars atmosphere was without a doubt disturbed by its passing so why not these small planetoids as they go by larger ones.
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'Planet Nine' Can't Hide Much Longer, Scientists Say 2016
So it appears that scientist think that Neptune is blocking our view...
Planet Nine may exist, but it might be hiding behind Neptune
The five lines of evidence are:
Six known objects in the Kuiper Belt, all of which have elliptical orbits that point in the same direction.
The orbits of the objects are all tilted the same way; 30 degrees "downward."
Computer simulations that show there are more objects "tilted with respect to the solar plane."
Planet Nine could be responsible for the tilt of the planets in our solar system; the plane of the planets orbit is tilted about 6 degrees compared to the Sun's equator
Some objects from the Kuiper Belt orbit in the opposite direction from everything else in the solar system.
If indeed the planet Neptune is obstructing the view why not make use of other imaging locations....
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If it's a sphere, and it goes around the sun, it's a planet. That includes Ceres and Pluto. I will never submit.
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The efforts are on to re-establish Pluto as a planet rather than a dwarf plentoid after the recent New Horizon probe flyby.
Now the search for planet x continues.....
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