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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, @05:53PM (2 children)
Aside that as you point out we then open the door to admitting other KBOs as planets (machts nichts), if/when Planet Ten is discovered one then messes up all descriptions... "Ninth planet... which one? Pluto? Newbie?" which we already get anyway. It's like Doctor Who counting has come to be, but at least that has the fun of David Tennant's regeneration and John Hurt's performance.
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(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday May 07 2018, @06:07PM (1 child)
It doesn't matter. The objects currently nicknamed Planet Nine and Ten will almost certainly be considered planets if they are found to exist at around their estimated masses. They'll be given new designations after discovery.
All planets that aren't considered dwarf planets can be called main/major/primary/large/dominant/whatever planets. Schoolchildren may or may not have to memorize the names of two more of those. If it turns out we have many more undiscovered Mercury and Mars sized objects, they can just be ignored by most people. We don't expect anyone to know that Jupiter has 69 known moons, or the names of all of the 51 properly named ones, including Mneme [wikipedia.org], Herse [wikipedia.org], Kale [wikipedia.org], and Megaclite [wikipedia.org].
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(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday May 07 2018, @07:57PM
True, but I was referring to if Pluto is allowed to be designated the ninth planet by some, but not all, then any other planet(s) found after that will have a numbering controversy. Is Planet Ten going to be the tenth planet or the eleventh, depending on how you happen to feel about Pluto?
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