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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
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday May 07 2018, @02:29AM (1 child)
They are. ;)
Rethinking and re-reading, I get the picture now. It actually is taking our current data and back-checking it to Pre-Copernican observations, a different kettle of fish. Much as you said, though they can simplify it further and walk it backwards. Since we know those parameters for existing comets to a very high degree of precision, the data can be walked back and we can predict where it would have been 500 years ago instead sans anomaly. If that data matches to the tapestry (or other observation) then there was no anomaly along the orbital path. If an anomaly is discovered, though, it is data for checking to see if it is a refinement. It still takes that "leap of faith" that the discovered anomaly is in fact the same object and the data would have to be scrutinized to see if the anomalous information is consistent with Planet Nine's toroid. It doesn't take knowing where Planet Nine was 500 years ago, it takes discovering a comet was not in location or timing where the math says it must have been consistent with all the major gravitational objects in the system we know about now.
It still seems like a time intensive thing to backcheck, even with computers. But then again, maybe the data of the tapestries have already been fed to database by enterprising grad students.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Monday May 07 2018, @03:03PM
The approach is still subject to issues with the medieval/ancient astronomical observations. If there are not many data points and they are off, they could suggest an anomaly that doesn't exist, or hide an anomaly that does. We'll see if these astronomers come up with anything useful in time, since Brown and Batygin say that Planet Nine could be discovered any day now (if they get lucky at Subaru [wikipedia.org]).
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