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Planet 9 from outer space
| January 21st, 2016 at 3:05:57 PM permalink | |
| odiousgambit Member since: Oct 28, 2012 Threads: 154 Posts: 5098 | obviously, the astronomers are having fun calling it this but there seems to be a new planet in our solar system http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/feature-astronomers-say-neptune-sized-planet-lurks-unseen-solar-system I'm Still Standing, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah [it's an old guy chant for me] |
| January 21st, 2016 at 3:11:47 PM permalink | |
| rxwine Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 189 Posts: 18756 | I am hoping if it exists they actually name it "Planet 9". You believe in an invisible god, and dismiss people who say they are trans? Really? |
| January 21st, 2016 at 3:41:06 PM permalink | |
| Nareed Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 346 Posts: 12545 | I actually don't know what it should be named going by convention. I expect a Greco-Roman name. I'd suggest Minerva. Unless it's a rocky world, in which case it should be Demeter or Gaia. Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER |
| January 22nd, 2016 at 3:39:41 AM permalink | |
| odiousgambit Member since: Oct 28, 2012 Threads: 154 Posts: 5098 | No dwarf planet baloney this time. The thing is plenty big, I think only Jupiter is bigger? at least Neptune and Jupiter are bigger... but still. And way way out there. from http://www.space.com/31677-astronomers-could-see-planet-nine.html  I'm Still Standing, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah [it's an old guy chant for me] |
| January 22nd, 2016 at 5:06:40 AM permalink | |
| TheCesspit Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 23 Posts: 1929 | Saturn and Uranus would be bigger too. It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die.... it's called Life |
| January 22nd, 2016 at 6:50:29 AM permalink | |
| Wizard Administrator Member since: Oct 23, 2012 Threads: 239 Posts: 6095 | If we can tell Planet 9 exists by the orbits of objects in the Kuiper belt, then why can we see things items in the Kuiper belt but not Planet 9? Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber |
| January 22nd, 2016 at 7:23:49 AM permalink | |
| Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
The six objects studied are fairly close to their perigee, but the Planet #9 is near it's apogee. As the oribital period is longer than human civilization, it will take some time before reaching it's perigee.  |
| January 22nd, 2016 at 7:32:02 AM permalink | |
| Nareed Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 346 Posts: 12545 |
Good modeling makes a great deal of difference. LeVerrier calculated Neptune's orbit so well, from the theoretical model of the orbit of Uranus, that it took mere days for someone to look at the search area and get a sighting of the new planet. But an incomplete understanding of gravity can mess with your head. Flush with the success of Neptune's discovery, astronomers then turned to the problem of Mercury's mismatch with theory. The planet they thought was causing the anomalies was as precisely located, and never found. It didn't exist. It took Einstein to explain what was going on. This means finding Minerva will be exciting. But it may be even more exciting to find there's no Planet IX. To update Asimov's quip: The most exciting utterance in science is not "Eureka!" but rather "What the fuck??" Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER |