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12-02-2020, 01:11 PM
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Is a new planet in our solar system

I was re-watching a documentary last night where American astronomers were discussing the issues raised by a 2015 announcement that there was a mathematical possibility of another planet in our solar system.



https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets...et-x/in-depth/

Astronomers studying the Kuiper Belt had noticed that some of the dwarf planets and other small, icy objects tended to follow orbits that clustered together. By analyzing these orbits, a Caltech team predicted the possibility that a large, previously undiscovered planet may be hiding far beyond Pluto.

The Caltech scientists, Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown, believe "Planet 9" may have has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and be similar in size to Uranus or Neptune. The predicted orbit is about 20 times farther from our Sun on average than Neptune (which orbits the Sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). It would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the Sun (where Neptune completes an orbit roughly every 165 years).

The announcement does not mean there is a new planet in our solar system. The existence of this distant world is only theoretical at this point and no direct observation of the object nicknamed "Planet 9" has been made.
AFAIK, no further progress has been made, although the search continues - astronomers know, roughly, where to look but, apparently, it's like trying, on Earth, to spot a 1/4" ball-bearing dangling in mid-air 5 miles away .....

There is unlikely to be life on the planet itself, but there may be life on one of its' moons (if it has any) .....

Intriguing .....
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12-02-2020, 01:27 PM
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Re: Is a new planet in our solar system

Originally Posted by Omah ->
I was re-watching a documentary last night where American astronomers were discussing the issues raised by a 2015 announcement that there was a mathematical possibility of another planet in our solar system.



https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets...et-x/in-depth/



AFAIK, no further progress has been made, although the search continues - astronomers know, roughly, where to look but, apparently, it's like trying, on Earth, to spot a 1/4" ball-bearing dangling in mid-air 5 miles away .....

There is unlikely to be life on the planet itself, but there may be life on one of its' moons (if it has any) .....

Intriguing .....
Wouldn't such a planet have been detected by the Voyager space probe as it passed Pluto and headed for interstellar space?
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12-02-2020, 01:49 PM
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Re: Is a new planet in our solar system

Originally Posted by Judd ->
Wouldn't such a planet have been detected by the Voyager space probe as it passed Pluto and headed for interstellar space?
Only if it was in the immediate vicinity. Since Planet 9's theoretical orbit is huge, taking 20,000 years to go once round the sun, it could have been as much as 200 billion miles away, on the other side of the solar sytem.

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12-02-2020, 03:35 PM
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Re: Is a new planet in our solar system

Originally Posted by Omah ->
Only if it was in the immediate vicinity. Since Planet 9's theoretical orbit is huge, taking 20,000 years to go once round the sun, it could have been as much as 200 billion miles away, on the other side of the soalar sytem.

A new planet? When did it arrive?? Where did it come from???
Donkeyman!
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12-02-2020, 04:05 PM
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Re: Is a new planet in our solar system

Originally Posted by Donkeyman ->
A new planet? When did it arrive?? Where did it come from???
Donkeyman!
Nobody knows until it's discovered. If it's found then a probe may be sent out but it will take 20 years to get there - however, it will take only a few days to get a message back to Earth .....
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12-02-2020, 04:26 PM
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Re: Is a new planet in our solar system

For those interested, here's a short video (NOT the documentary):

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12-02-2020, 04:33 PM
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Re: Is a new planet in our solar system

Originally Posted by Omah ->
I was re-watching a documentary last night where American astronomers were discussing the issues raised by a 2015 announcement that there was a mathematical possibility of another planet in our solar system.



https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets...et-x/in-depth/



AFAIK, no further progress has been made, although the search continues - astronomers know, roughly, where to look but, apparently, it's like trying, on Earth, to spot a 1/4" ball-bearing dangling in mid-air 5 miles away .....

There is unlikely to be life on the planet itself, but there may be life on one of its' moons (if it has any) .....

Intriguing .....
Don't remind everyone, Omah, they'll want to go there (or pretend to go there) and wreck it!
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16-02-2020, 01:17 PM
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Re: Is a new planet in our solar system

Originally Posted by Omah ->
Nobody knows until it's discovered. If it's found then a probe may be sent out but it will take 20 years to get there - however, it will take only a few days to get a message back to Earth .....
So we should know by the time HS2 is finished Omah??
Donkeyman!
 

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