Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Sunday May 06 2018, @01:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the past-stars dept.

Medieval astronomical records, such as the Bayeux Tapestry, could help narrow down the location (or at least infer the existence) of the hypothetical Planet Nine:

Scientists suspect the existence of Planet Nine because it would explain some of the gravitational forces at play in the Kuiper Belt, a stretch of icy bodies beyond Neptune. But no one has been able to detect the planet yet, though astronomers are scanning the skies for it with tools such as the Subaru Telescope on Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano.

Medieval records could provide another tool, said Pedro Lacerda, a Queen's University astronomer and the other leader of the project.

"We can take the orbits of comets currently known and use a computer to calculate the times when those comets would be visible in the skies during the Middle Ages," Lacerda told Live Science. "The precise times depend on whether our computer simulations include Planet Nine. So, in simple terms, we can use the medieval comet sightings to check which computer simulations work best: the ones that include Planet Nine or the ones that do not."

Also at Queen's University Belfast.

Related: "Planet Nine" Might Explain the Solar System's Tilt
Planet Nine's Existence Disfavoured by New Data
Study of ETNOs Supports Planet Nine's Existence
Passing Star Influenced Comet Orbits in Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by aristarchus on Sunday May 06 2018, @09:39PM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Sunday May 06 2018, @09:39PM (#676452) Journal

    Not the alleged planet itself, but the results of it perturbation of the Ort Cloud objects: Comets, to you non-astronomers. Problem is, Bayeux Tapestry depicts Halley's Comment, which is kind of the "Old Faithful" of Comets, being usually very visible, and coming around every 76 years, or so. Not sure how it being observed in the Middle ages as anything to do with Planet Nine, we will probably find out more about Wormwood, and the end of times, if the unruly Brits do not accept Norman (North-men) rule. Billy the Conqueror had a book, a list of names, if you will, called the "Doomsday Book", and he took Halley's for a sign.

    (And, Medieval Europe was hardly a hot-bed of observational astronomy. For example, slightly prior to this, in 1054 (1066 is William the Conqueror's invasion of England), there was a supernova in Taurus, that has left us Messier object #1, the Crab Nebula. The Nova was recorded by Chinese astronomers, a "guest star" that was even visible during the day, since it was so bright. Lasted for weeks. Absolutely no mention of it in Medieval European records. Could they just not have seen it? Unlikely. More to the point, Aristotle's (and the Church's) position was that the heavens are unchanging, perfect, eternal. So you should not have any stellae novae, nor should there be anything like Comets, even periodic ones, so they were considered harbingers of disaster. Not until Tycho Brahe (1572) [wikipedia.org] and Johannes Kepler (1604) [wikipedia.org] discovered novae stellae did this presumption about the heavens begin to be challenged.)

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Insightful=1, Interesting=1, Total=2
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4