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Sun May Still Have Low-Mass Solar Companion, Say Astrophysicists Searching NASA WISE Mission Data
Forbes ^
| 3/31/2013
| Bruce Dorminey
Posted on 04/10/2014 1:25:51 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Our sun may indeed have a far-flung gravitationally-bound companion just not with the size or orbit that could have triggered periodicity in earths paleontological record, say astrophysicists now actively searching data from NASAs WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) spacecraft.
For decades astronomers and paleontologists have debated whether our sun has a stellar mass M-dwarf companion dubbed Nemesis that could have caused a 26 million-year periodicity in earths cometary impact record.
Such a small M-dwarf star has long been ruled out by WISE data, since observers would surely have spotted an object larger than roughly five Jupiter masses.
However, John Matese and Dan Whitmire, two astrophysicists at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, continue to scour the spacecrafts data for the signatures of Tyche, a totally different type of solar companion. Unlike Nemesis, Tyche (or Nemesis good sister), is a hypothetical 1 to 4 Jupiter-mass object that would lie about a third of a light year away, on a very long four million-year nearly circular solar orbit inclined roughly 45 degrees to the plane of our solar system...
Whitmire says there is an anomalous and statistically-unlikely number of comets along this band of sky, which suggests some form of gravitational perturbation. In Matese and Whitmires model, Tyche slightly perturbs the comets in conjunction with the galactic tide, a gravitational force produced by the disk of the Milky Way.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: johnmatese; nemesis; tyche; xplanets
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Image Credit: Penn State University
1
posted on
04/10/2014 1:25:51 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
To: 75thOVI; agrace; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aragorn; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; ...
2
posted on
04/10/2014 1:27:21 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: KevinDavis; annie laurie; Knitting A Conundrum; Viking2002; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Mmogamer; ...
3
posted on
04/10/2014 1:28:01 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: SunkenCiv
To: SunkenCiv
Well...as long as it isn’t a danger to Muslims or cause globullsmarmingwarmingheat...then it’s ok.
5
posted on
04/10/2014 1:35:56 PM PDT
by
Dallas59
("Remember me as you pass by, As you are now, so once was I, As I am now, so you will be," -Epitap)
To: SunkenCiv
The origins of Valerie Jarrett explained...
6
posted on
04/10/2014 1:53:24 PM PDT
by
Army Air Corps
(Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
To: SunkenCiv
Nibiru?..................
7
posted on
04/10/2014 1:54:00 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(LIberal is an oxymoron......................)
To: Army Air Corps; cuban leaf; SunkenCiv; Dallas59
8
posted on
04/10/2014 1:56:10 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(LIberal is an oxymoron......................)
To: SunkenCiv
Brings up a question.
How small can a ‘star’ be ?
9
posted on
04/10/2014 1:59:02 PM PDT
by
UCANSEE2
(Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
To: UCANSEE2
How small can a star be ? I dunno. Ask Alec Baldwin?
To: UCANSEE2
11
posted on
04/10/2014 2:02:33 PM PDT
by
BenLurkin
(This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
To: BenLurkin
12
posted on
04/10/2014 2:03:44 PM PDT
by
al baby
(Hi MomÂ… I was refereeing to Obama)
To: UCANSEE2
Depends on whose definition you go by. If you define a star as a large gaseous celestial body which undergoes fusion at some point in its life, then the minimum mass is around 13 times Jupiter's mass; below that mass and it will not fuse deuterium early in its life (brown dwarf stars do actually undergo fusion, but their deuterium supply is consumed relatively quickly on a cosmic scale).
http://www.universetoday.com/19237/dense-exoplanet-creates-classification-calamity/
Some try to define it by the method by it formed, but I find that to be a bit silly; not only can that be difficult to definitively determine, but to me the way in which it formed is less important than what it became. If I could be so bold, it would be like saying in biological science that a human cloned and gestated by artificial means in some futuristic "vat" is not actually a human because it didn't form the way humans naturally do.
To: SunkenCiv
So far I’ve topped 18,000,000 points for 500 years. I put a dwarf star right next to the sun, an earth mass in the habitable zone, and a brown dwarf at the edge of 2 AU.
http://www.stefanom.org/spc/#
14
posted on
04/10/2014 2:16:41 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
(REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
To: BenLurkin
Dwarf star, that’s funny.
15
posted on
04/10/2014 2:24:38 PM PDT
by
UCANSEE2
(Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
To: messierhunter
(brown dwarf stars do actually undergo fusion, but their deuterium supply is consumed relatively quickly on a cosmic scale). (Seriously though, thank you for the response and info)
16
posted on
04/10/2014 2:28:22 PM PDT
by
UCANSEE2
(Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
To: SunkenCiv
Tyche (or Nemesis good sister), is a hypothetical 1 to 4 Jupiter-mass object So Tyche is just a little "tike" as stars go ....
17
posted on
04/10/2014 2:42:38 PM PDT
by
mikrofon
(Roman: Fortuna)
To: UCANSEE2
Oooh, y’know, I just read that in one of the articles related to this... the indistinct answer to that is, deuterium ignition requires more mass than that.
18
posted on
04/11/2014 5:56:09 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: mikrofon
19
posted on
04/11/2014 5:57:08 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: cripplecreek
Nice! Is it back up and running?
20
posted on
04/11/2014 5:57:08 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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