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The search for Planet X gets a boost with the discovery of a super distant object
A new discovery is strengthening the idea that a large, mysterious planet — known as Planet 9 or Planet X — may be lurking unseen at the Solar System's edge. Astronomers say they have found a tiny object orbiting far out from the Sun that fits with the Planet X theory. In fact, the object may have even been pushed onto the path it takes now by this hidden planet's gravity.
The tiny rock — eloquently named TG387 and nicknamed "The Goblin" — was spotted by astronomers at the Carnegie Institution of Science using a giant Japanese observatory in Hawaii called Subaru. The Carnegie team first spotted the object in 2015 and then followed it on its journey around the Sun for the last four years. Those observations revealed an incredibly distant target. TG387 takes a whopping 40,000 years to complete just one orbit around the Sun. And it's on a very elliptical path far from the inner Solar System; the closest it ever gets to the Sun is 65 Astronomical Units (AU), or 65 times the distance between the Sun and the Earth. For reference, Pluto only gets as far as 49 AUs from the Sun.
This orbit is particularly enticing since it puts TG387 in a select group of distant Solar System objects that all point to the possible existence of Planet X. Right now, there are 14 far-out space rocks that all share similar orbit patterns, suggesting that this planet is out there. Their paths are all super elongated, and they all cluster together in the same area when they approach the Sun. Plus, their orbits are all tilted alike, and they point in the same general direction, as if something big has pushed them into similar places. These objects are the strongest lines of evidence astronomers have for Planet X, and finding a new one that matches this pattern reinforces that idea that this planet is more than just a theory.
Planet Nine and 2015 TG387.
Also at ScienceAlert, The Atlantic, USA Today, and NPR.
A New High Perihelion Inner Oort Cloud Object
Previously: Another Trans-Neptunian Object With a High Orbital Inclination Points to Planet Nine
CU Boulder Researchers Say Collective Gravity, Not Planet Nine, Explains Orbits of Detached Objects
Planet Nine Search Turns Up 10 More Moons of Jupiter
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @10:41PM (2 children)
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Tuesday October 02 2018, @11:23PM
Hey! Stop pulling my buttons, will yea?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @03:13AM
"push" gravity [vixra.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by Snow on Tuesday October 02 2018, @10:41PM (6 children)
We already have a planet nine -- Pluto.
I don't care what the scientific elite say!
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday October 02 2018, @11:47PM
Plus, if Pluto is planet nine, then planet X becomes planet (Roman numeral) X....more ... um....poetic?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Tuesday October 02 2018, @11:48PM (2 children)
Nope.
If you count Pluto, you have to count Ceres at #5, which makes Pluto at #10, Haumea #11, Makemake #12 and Eris #13...
... Unless you also count Orcus at #10, which means Pluto does go to #11.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_planet [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Wednesday October 03 2018, @10:40PM (1 child)
No, actually you don't. You could count Ceres at #10 or 11, etc. if you want to characterize it as a planet for whatever reason is dear to you.
The order of the orbit doesn't have to be the number of the planet. In fact, Pluto and Neptune cross orbits from time to time; from 1979 to 1999, Pluto was the eighth planet counting out from the sun. In 1999, it swapped with Neptune to become the ninth planet (again) by orbital order.
In any case, AFAIC, Pluto's a planet, number 9 or 8 or 22 or whatever. Anyone who says it isn't a planet I find entirely worthy of being ignored on the subject. The whole idea that it's not a planet is downright ridiculous.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday October 03 2018, @11:01PM
Sure, the order is arbitrary. Current distance, average distance, discovery, whatever... The main point being that we're clearly not looking for Planet 9 or 10.
We have lots of planets. We have 8 Major planets, or 4 Major Rocky/Inner Planets and 4 Gas Giants/Outer Planets, plus a whole lot of smaller Planets (rocky, binary, but not Major).
We're looking for Major Planet 9, aka Planet 15 or 20, aka Gas Giant 5, unless it turns out to be Major Rocky 5.
It should be named after some God of confusion and argument.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 02 2018, @11:49PM
I think you meant Eris [wikipedia.org].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @02:43AM
Planet Nein?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday October 02 2018, @10:47PM (5 children)
With something that far away, that takes that much time to orbit the sun, what hope do we have of actually locating the infamous Planet X? Should it be close to those objects? Or could it be anywhere along it's orbital path? At 65AU, that's a whole lot of sky to track.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday October 02 2018, @11:10PM (3 children)
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope [wikipedia.org] (LSST) should find a lot of these kinds of objects very soon.
Both Sheppard and Brown's teams are using the Subaru telescope to search the entire sky for Planet Nine. They aren't close to being done yet, and bad weather has made some nights a wash. It's possible that their "prime search areas" are the wrong search areas, or that Planet Nine is too distant to be picked up by Subaru. Or it could just not exist.
Also, the proposed orbit for Planet Nine is from 200 AU to 1,200 AU, but the current location could be closer to the latter number. It would be much larger than 300 km in diameter though.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday October 02 2018, @11:51PM (2 children)
I thought Sheppard was off in Atlantis.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday October 03 2018, @12:30AM (1 child)
I thought Atlantis was parked outside San Francisco.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday October 03 2018, @12:45AM
All we're missing is rule 34!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday October 03 2018, @06:17AM
Depends whether it's out there or not. If it is, we'll find it. If it's not, then alas, there is not much hope.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Thexalon on Tuesday October 02 2018, @11:55PM (1 child)
All we need to do is send Duck Dodgers [vimeo.com] and hope he gets there before Marvin the Martian.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @02:47AM
with illudium Q-36.