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2015 BP519, nicknamed "Caju", is another extreme trans-Neptunian object that points to the existence of Planet Nine. Discovered with data from the Dark Energy Survey, Caju has a relatively large diameter, estimated at around 400-700 km, meaning the object could be a gravitationally rounded dwarf planet. It also has a highly inclined orbit of 54°, which a team of scientists says can be explained by the presence of the hypothetical Planet Nine:
After discovering it, the team tried to investigate 2015 BP519's origins using computer simulations of the Solar System. However, these tests were not able to adequately explain how the object had ended with such an orbit.
But when the team added a ninth planet with properties exactly matching those predicted by the Caltech scientists in 2016, the orbit of 2015 BP519 suddenly made sense. "The second you put Planet Nine in the simulations, not only can you form objects like this object, but you absolutely do," Juliette Becker, a Michigan graduate student and lead author of the study told Quanta.
Some researchers, however, caution that Planet Nine may not be the only explanation for 2015 BP519's strange orbit. Michele Bannister, a planetary astronomer from Queen's University Belfast, in Ireland, who was not involved in the study, told Newsweek that while the latest findings were "a great discovery," other scenarios could account for its tilt. "This object is unusual because it's on a high inclination," she said. "This can be used to maybe tell us some things about its formation process. There are a number of models that suggest you can probably put objects like this into the shape of orbit and the tilt of orbit that we see today."
Also at Quanta Magazine.
Discovery and Dynamical Analysis of an Extreme Trans-Neptunian Object with a High Orbital Inclination (arXiv:1805.05355)
Related: Medieval Records Could Point the Way to Planet Nine
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday May 17 2018, @07:47PM (2 children)
Estimated as in a combination of Hamiltonian analysis and 3 body solution simulations have an optimax of 700 AU distance with .6 eccentricity being the most likely solution to produce the anomalies of the 14 or so objects in a way that that fits this model, while still allowing other objects to be unaffected by the pertubations of the theorized body. Alleged to be fitting moreso than other theories including "just chance", which for the first six objects alone chance was estimated as a 0.007% probability (though readily conceded as "not completely impossible"). And "adequately explain" as in apparently sufficiently explaining its eccentricity and inclination similarly to 13 other objects and possibly explaining other systemwide anomalies... along with other potential theories to some degree.
"Rogue wandering planets" in the sense of TNO's do not align themselves without something to align them. Were it simply one object there would be nothing to cause any speculation. Correlating the objects together implies there is an acting body which is not conveniently explicable by any actually observed phenomena to date and not fitting other aspects of known models about how they should align. Though we all know correlation isn't causation. (Unless you meant Planet Nine, which could have been a wandering planet or could have been from within the system depending on who you listen to.)
But I have no real dog in this one way or the other. Other than thinking it would be indeed awesome if there is a Neptunian-sized object WAAAY out there but still within our system's influence.
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(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday May 17 2018, @08:49PM (1 child)
Certainly they do.
As any body wonders into proximity of another, their mutual gravitational attraction will "align" them, and the original trajectory and speed of the wandering planet or micro planet will have a great deal of input to that alignment, especially if a highly inclined initial approach angle was involved that minimized the perils of "navigating" through the existing planets.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday May 18 2018, @03:41PM
And that's very much the argument Planet Nine's proponents are making. Without the presence of a Planet Nine or something similar these TNOs do not have gravitational stuff to make the observed perihelial alignment. They should be expected to have the same random scatteredness of the scattered disk region. Adding Planet Nine in as a third-body mediator could explain why their arguments of perihelion seem to align. Unless you're referring to a possible rogue wandering planet which passed through our system and caused the alignment similar to what a Planet Nine would have done.
This sig for rent.