Planet Nine's profile fleshed out

BBC ^ | 4/8/2916 | Paul Rincon

[JimSEA]

In January, researchers at Caltech in the US suggested a large, additional planet might be lurking in the icy outer reaches of the Solar System. Now, a team at the University of Bern in Switzerland has worked out what they say are upper and lower limits on how big, bright and cold it might be. The study has been accepted by the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. Prof Mike Brown and Dr Konstantin Batygin made their case for the existence of a ninth planet in our Solar System orbiting far beyond even the dwarf world Pluto. There are no direct observations of this much bigger object yet, but a search is now underway using the world's largest telescopes. The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) scientists based their findings on the way other far-flung objects are seen to move. This prompted the Bern team, Prof Christoph Mordasini and Esther Linder, to use computer simulations to work out basic characteristics for the hypothetical ninth planet. The Bern-based astrophysicists assumed that Planet Nine was a smaller version of Uranus and Neptune - a small ice giant with an envelope of hydrogen and helium.

[Vermont Lt]

I agree. I got lost in calculus. There is no way I could understand how to calculate the elliptical orbit of anything.

I just think it’s fascinating that very small changes in the track of tiny space vehicles could be measured in a way that tells “something” is out there.

We will be old and gray by the time they figure this out. (Old and gray is not a huge leap for me.)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks JimSEA.

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Konstantin Batygin keyword, sorted newest to oldest:

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• Ninth Planet May Exist in Solar System Beyond Pluto, New Evidence Suggests [2016]
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[SunkenCiv]

join or quit view topics view or post blog bookmark post new topic subscribe

John Matese keyword:

• Newly discovered planet could destroy Earth any day now [2016]
• Mysterious planet wiped out life on Earth once and could do it again THIS MONTH [2016]
• Researcher links mass extinctions to 'Planet X' [2016]
• Scientists just found more evidence that Planet Nine exists in our Solar System [2016]
• Search Narrows For Planet Nine [2016]
• Don't Blame 'Planet Nine' for Earth's Mass Extinctions [2016]
• Researchers find evidence of a real ninth planet [2016]
• There's a ninth planet in our solar system --- we just can't see it yet, study says [2016]
• Ninth Planet May Exist in Solar System Beyond Pluto, New Evidence Suggests [2016]
• Scientists may have found Planet X, the mysterious presence that has eluded astronomers [2015]
• The Chilling Regularity of Mass Extinctions [2015]
• Is there a Planet X, a 'massive perturber,' hidden beyond Pluto? [2015]
• New Examination of Trans-Neptunian Objects Suggests Two Planets Lurk in Outer Solar System [2015]
• Astronomers are Predicting at Least Two More Large Planets in the Solar System [2015]
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[SunkenCiv]

New to me (or maybe it fell out with some of the other marbles):

Hills cloud
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hills_cloud

[SunkenCiv]

sorted newest to oldest:

• Keyword: 2012vp113
• Researchers find evidence of a real ninth planet [01/20/2016 7:52:49 PM PST]
• There's a ninth planet in our solar system -- we just can't see it yet, study says [01/20/2016 1:43:51 PM PST]
• Ninth Planet May Exist in Solar System Beyond Pluto, New Evidence Suggests [01/20/2016 12:01:57 PM PST]
• Stealing Sedna [08/06/2015 11:25:26 AM PDT]
• New Examination of Trans-Neptunian Objects Suggests Two Planets Lurk in Outer Solar System [01/16/2015 11:06:16 AM PST]
• Astronomers are Predicting at Least Two More Large Planets in the Solar System [01/15/2015 3:45:27 PM PST]
• Astronomy Picture of the Day -- 2012 VP113: A New Furthest Known Orbit in the Solar System [04/01/2014 5:37:49 AM PDT]
• Dwarf planet discovery hints at a hidden Super Earth in solar system [03/29/2014 1:03:08 AM PDT]
• Scientists Nickname Planet-Like Object 'Biden' [03/27/2014 1:16:15 PM PDT]
• New planet nicknamed after Biden [03/26/2014 10:15:21 PM PDT]
• A planet past Pluto? Astronomers redefine the solar system's edge [03/26/2014 1:03:22 PM PDT]
• Newfound pink world lurks at solar system fringes [03/26/2014 12:06:45 PM PDT]
• Media Advisory: Press Conference in Brazil to Announce Discovery in Outer Solar System [03/26/2014 7:59:37 AM PDT]

[pgkdan]

Yeah but...what does Gil Broussard say?

[Grimmy]

Any news yet on real estate prices on Planet X yet?

[Mr. K]

What constitutes a planet?

I would have thought that anything with enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape AND have a regular orbit would qualify?

and I am iffy on the regular orbit too... would a long elliptical orbit qualify?

[Mr. K]

not just science, but SETTLED science

[mad_as_he$$]

Yup, we need big $$$$ to fund a space craft to intercept this planet!

[yarddog]

One thing which irritates the dickens out of me is when scientists discuss what to do with an asteroid heading towards Earth, they always immediately dismiss the idea of an atomic bomb, saying it would just make it worse.

It seems obvious to me that an atomic blast would blow it to millions of pieces. Some (most?) would take off in different directions eliminating those parts from the trajectory. Also the tiny bits remaining would have thousands of times the surface area as the original meteor. That would cause them to burn up in the atmosphere, leaving a tiny remnant that would get through.

Why do they dismiss such an obvious solution, making clearly wrong observations?

[mad_as_he$$]

Probably more of a fear of nukes than anything else.

[yarddog]

I think that is basically what it is.

The scientists are typically anti-nuke and they are not going to admit anything positive about them.