Potential orbit of mysterious Planet Nine which may lurk on edge of our solar system has been plotted by scientists

Daily Mail ^

[algore]

Scientists have debated the existence of Planet Nine since it was first introduced several years ago, but a new study has determined the orbit of the alleged celestial object.

Caltech researchers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin have plotted the orbital path of the mystical planet, which has yet to be discovered.

In a blog post, Brown detailed that the 'highest probability' of Planet Nine's location is near aphelion - the point at which it is furthest from the sun - around 60 degrees in Right Ascension, 'pretty close to the galactic plane.'

If in fact Planet Nine were at the median distance of aphelion right now, it would be roughly 500 astronomical units (AU), or approximately 46.5 billion miles away from the sun.

In their analysis, they estimate that Planet Nine has a mass of 6.2 times that of the Earth and a periphelion (the point at which it is closest to the sun) of around 300 AU.

It also has an inclination - how much it tilts compared to the solar system's plane - of around 16 degrees.

Planet Nine and its existence has been controversial, with many other researchers claiming it doesn't exist.

In February, a group of researchers stated that the unusual orbits in the Kuiper Belt may be an illusion.

Others have suggested the object is a mirage or may be a black hole the size of a grapefruit.

[Born to Conserve]

Planets are racist and sexist.

[Sertorius]

For Gen X, that would be Planet X

[frank ballenger]

Pluto says, "This is just Goofy"

My kind of joke (sophisticated).

But did you swipe it from Scientific American?

[Arcadian Empire]

Message from the Supreme Command of Planet Nine, to the residents of Earth:

Stop ****ing looking for us, you ****ing idiots!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks BenLurkin. Mike Brown's been chasing the 10th Planet (screw the "Pluto is not a planet" BS) and really thought he'd found it prior to the bogus demotion of Pluto.

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Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar ·

• How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming / Mike Brown / Spiegel & Grau / Dec 7, 2010
• [Daniel Whitmire / John Matese] Arkansas professor puts undetected-planet idea back in focus
• deus ex machina keyword

[frank ballenger]

What are the residents of planet 9 plotting?

Taunting military pilots with hide and go seek maneuvers. Landing saucer shaped ships in farmer's fields, lakes in the woods and Area 51 field in Roswell. Making intricate crop circle geometric formations overnight. Surgically harvesting cattle organs and those of other animals to make a dna library.

And landing on the White House lawn to demand people start acting rationally.

[SunkenCiv]

"To Pluto And Far Beyond" By David H. Levy, Parade, January 15, 2006 -- We don't have a dictionary definition yet that includes all the contingencies. In the wake of the new discovery, however, the International Astronomical Union has set up a group to develop a workable definition of planet. For our part, in consultation with several experienced planetary astronomers, Parade offers this definition: A planet is a body large enough that, when it formed, it condensed under its own gravity to be shaped like a sphere. It orbits a star directly and is not a moon of another planet.

• The Nine Planets search results

[JennysCool]

Planet 9??? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!

[Verginius Rufus]

If its closest approach to the sun is 300 astronomical units, that is 10 times the average distance from the sun to Neptune. It takes Neptune 164.79 earth years to orbit the sun once (it was discovered in 1846 so it finished one lap around the sun in 2011). But Planet Nine’s apparent average distance would be 400 AUs from the sun. Someone who is good at math could figure the time it would take Planet Nine to orbit the sun once using Kepler’s laws.

[Fledermaus]

Beat me to it

[PIF]

The “9th planet” is now the asteroid belt. It used to be a planet until it exploded, taking Mars’ atmosphere with it.

Or at least that’s what Richard Hoagland always told me on Art Bell’s late night radio program...

—
You remember the exploding part right, but it was not RCH’s idea ; he was just repeating astronomer Tom Van Flandern’s “Exploding Planets” theory which accounted for the orbits of comets as well.

[PIF]

Actually, the planet has been traditionally referred to not as Planet 9, but as Planet X (were X does not necessarily represent the number 10).

[CivilWarBrewing]

or the Anunnaki, our overlords and THEY ARE COMING TO GET EARTH'S GOLD.

They SHOULD BE friendly, so I'm not worried.

[CivilWarBrewing]

NIBIRU!

[EEGator]

I’m in.

[redgolum]

HAH!

I was working nights during that time, and loved Art Bell!

[dsrtsage]

On planet X, it won’t he long now

[Brilliant]

Maybe it’s “dark matter.”

[PeteB570]

In the article “...Its huge orbit would mean it takes between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make a single pass around the sun...”

[zeugma]

It’s planet X (as in 10) damnit. Pluto is still a freaking planet.

I saw a video of how this crap about Pluto being demoted happened. It was at a conference of a couple of hundred astronomers. A vote was taken and Pluto lost.

Really? Is that how “science” works these days?