Planet Nine

ScumLord · 21-01-2016 04:48PM

kneemos wrote: »

How could I respond if I couldn't read?

Some sort of a butler that reads things for you?

kneemos · 21-01-2016 04:50PM

ScumLord wrote: »

Some sort of a butler that reads things for you?

Don't know any butler's . There's o'dwyer's next door.

21-01-2016 04:53PM

ScumLord wrote: »

But, if we can't see a planet 200 times the size of earth how can we see the smaller objects it's influencing?

Because the proposed planet is much further away. The closest it would get to the sun is over 7 times further away than the orbit of Neptune.

It is also not quite as big as you think. I think computer models put the alleged planet between 5 and 15 Earth masses. Not 200.

ScumLord wrote: »

Or is it affecting objects much closer that we can see, pulling them out of the solar system towards it?

This for a start yes. It is affecting object in the Kuiper Belt. An area which includes Pluto. The paper looks at known objects in that area and how they have "clustered" and the only likely explanation they can find for that clustering is the existence of this planet.

The_Valeyard · 21-01-2016 05:00PM

So your saying...we better nuke it...just in case.

kneemos · 21-01-2016 05:06PM

The_Valeyard wrote: »

So your saying...we better nuke it...just in case.

Can't find it sure.

Ninja planet.

ScumLord · 21-01-2016 05:08PM

Deleted User wrote: »

This for a start yes. It is affecting object in the Kuiper Belt. An area which includes Pluto. The paper looks at known objects in that area and how they have "clustered" and the only likely explanation they can find for that clustering is the existence of this planet.

So it's just a bit of a guess? It's not like we have a whole lot of data on that part of the solar system, if orbits are 200-20,000 years in that part of the solar system we don't know that this isn't just natural clustering that might happen. I know these guys have all sorts of simulations they can run based on small amounts of data, but they can't really say much, other than something unexpected is happening? Like, they couldn't say for sure this isn't a rogue planet that's just started to get close to our solar system rather than a planet that's been thrown out of our solar system?

iDave · 21-01-2016 05:08PM

kneemos wrote: »

Ninja planet.

They should call it that.

Huntergonzo · 21-01-2016 05:09PM

This is interesting news, far more interesting than the usual shíte we hear in the news. I wonder how long it will take to find this planet, given it's from the sun distance.

21-01-2016 05:09PM

Ruu wrote: »

I say we blow it up, or invade the colony of intelligent life form on there before they get us. *gun shots in air* :eek::eek::eek:

It really makes me proud of my species to know that if aliens ever did show up there would be a significant subsection of us who would want to kill them from the out set. Just cos.

And there would be another significant subset of us who want to have sex with them - whatever orifices they have or function they serve.

Maximus Alexander · 21-01-2016 05:16PM

ScumLord wrote: »

But, if we can't see a planet 200 times the size of earth how can we see the smaller objects it's influencing?

Or it is that we can see it ploughing through these objects leaving a trial? Like if something ploughed through the rings of saturn we could see the trail left in it's wake?

Or is it affecting objects much closer that we can see, pulling them out of the solar system towards it?

Basically, there's lot of small things, much closer to us. They're also really hard to see and we've only spotted them relatively recently, despite being much closer to us.

The orbits that lots of these small things are on don't make any sense. If you model the formation of the solar system, the odds of them all randomly ending up on the paths they're on are really, really tiny.

That suggests that there's a missing link, that something pushed them into those orbits. Lots of people have suggested that the 'something' is another planet, but nobody has been able to find such a planet.

The last time someone suggested that it might be caused by another planet, a couple of scientists set out to disprove this. However, instead they realised that the numbers were really compelling. When they did the simulations, it turns out that a planet of a particular size, in a particular orbit, explains the behavior of all those little things really well.

However, the proposed planet would be so distant - and thus so dim - that it would be beyond detection even for the Wide-field Infrared Survey
Explorer, which was launched specifically to find things that are really dim and hard to see.

In conclusion, they're not literally seeing small objects being knocked around by something right now. What they're seeing is lots of small objects that look like they've consistently been getting knocked around by something for billions of years.

While it appears compelling, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, so nobody who knows what they're talking about is going to claim there is actually a ninth planet out there until somebody can prove it. What the scientists in question hope, is that their findings will at least provoke others into trying.

21-01-2016 05:17PM

ScumLord wrote: »

So it's just a bit of a guess?

Guess is probably not the right word at all. "Inferred" and things are more PC

But effectively many things in science are a "guess" to some degree or another.

But there are other procedures in science to account for that. A big one being "prediction". When you come up with a Theory that appears to explain the data you have - you use that Theory to make predictions. The more complex the prediction - or unlikely the prediction is to be right because you got lucky - the better.

So what the authors of this paper did with their Theory Planet is to make predictions. To say "Ok IF this planet is there THEN what can we predict". And they then went to test those predictions.

One example is the authors said: IF this planet is there - then objects coming INTO our solar system from outside in that area should behave in precisely this predicted way.....

Then they went and observed such objects and sure enough they were behaving EXACTLY as predicted in EXACTLY the places predicted.

Prediction is massively important in all areas of science. Take Evolution Theory for example. They used the theory to predict not only where they would find certain fossils - but exact predictions about what they would look like. Search some old posts on this forum related to Whale Evolution for examples of this as a couple of other users wrote very well on it.

The stronger your predictions the more seriously the scientific community will take your claims. And that takes it much further than "guess"work.

ScumLord · 21-01-2016 05:19PM

Huntergonzo wrote: »

This is interesting news, far more interesting than the usual shíte we hear in the news. I wonder how long it will take to find this planet, given it's from the sun distance.

Get the voyager probe to hang a huey and have a gwak for it.

If it could be located and it's existance proven I think it should go to the top of the list for sending a probe. If it's as big as they say it might have a load of energy stored in it that we could use for a settlement for researching space outside our solar system. Just send all those old people that wanted to go to mars.

Maximus Alexander · 21-01-2016 05:23PM

ScumLord wrote: »

Get the voyager probe to hang a huey and have a gwak for it.

If it could be located and it's existance proven I think it should go to the top of the list for sending a probe. If it's as big as they say it might have a load of energy stored in it that we could use for a settlement for researching space outside our solar system. Just send all those old people that wanted to go to mars.

Even if the Voyager probe had been heading in the right direction, it wouldn't even be a third of the way there yet.

Testament1 · 21-01-2016 06:43PM

ScumLord wrote: »

Get the voyager probe to hang a huey and have a gwak for it.

If it could be located and it's existance proven I think it should go to the top of the list for sending a probe. If it's as big as they say it might have a load of energy stored in it that we could use for a settlement for researching space outside our solar system. Just send all those old people that wanted to go to mars.

Problem with that is you'd still have to be able to predict where the supposed planet would be at a certain point in time to rendezvous with Voyager or else you'll wind just sending the probe out into the vast nothingness. And given its theorised massive orbit that would be no easy task.

Deep space exploration is fascinating all the same. I'd love to have a more mathematically inclined mind so I could understand the physics behind the research.

biko · 21-01-2016 08:13PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6poHQ2h00ZA

21-01-2016 09:09PM

Time to reinstate Pluto before this 'Planet Nine' crap goes any further, 'Planet X' is a much cooler name for such a mysterious object

googled eyes · 21-01-2016 11:23PM

riffmongous wrote: »

Time to reinstate Pluto before this 'Planet Nine' crap goes any further, 'Planet X' is a much cooler name for such a mysterious object

What if they've known about this planet for a while and only downgraded Pluto so that the Planet X conspiracy crowd couldnt latch onto it. :pac:

wexandproud · 22-01-2016 12:17AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Answer this question yourself. Go to an indoor football or basketball hall. Ask someone to turn out all the lights - black out all the windows - and then hide a small square of black paper somewhere in the hall.

Then go and try and find it.

but sure why cant they look during the day when its bright:D

pueblo · 22-01-2016 02:06AM

googled eyes wrote: »

What if they've known about this planet for a while and only downgraded Pluto so that the Planet X conspiracy crowd couldnt latch onto it. :pac:

Ironic indeed that NASA apparently discovered this planet back in 1983....:pac:

The discovery appeared in a Washington Post article before quietly receding into the mists...

http://planet-x.150m.com/washpost.html

bodice ripper · 22-01-2016 02:26AM

Planet Bowie, surely?

Nodin · 22-01-2016 07:53AM

Beefy78 wrote: »

Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindboggingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.

Well its not that far in simple terms of distance travelled, but when you add in "HC" (increase of relative travel related suffering due to Hangover/Comedown) you'll find that they overall are fairly even.

29-01-2016 01:14PM

wexandproud wrote: »

but sure why cant they look during the day when its bright:D

Hah that is like the astronaut who is reputed to have said something like "Back on earth - it is summer now".

As usual though SciShow Space yesterday come out with a video on the subject with pretty little animations and the like - for those who are still curious to understand the "discovery" to date and where it goes from here.

Always helpful and consistent is Scishow

kneemos · 29-01-2016 01:19PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Hah that is like the astronaut who is reputed to have said something like "Back on earth - it is summer now".

As usual though SciShow Space yesterday come out with a video on the subject with pretty little animations and the like - for those who are still curious to understand the "discovery" to date and where it goes from here.

Always helpful and consistent is Scishow

Why is he talking so fast?

29-01-2016 01:25PM

He is? Seems like a comfortable enough speed to me. Perhaps I am just used to him by now after following most Sci Show stuff - and the old Vlog Brothers stuff.

Maximus Alexander · 29-01-2016 01:25PM

kneemos wrote: »

Why is he talking so fast?

You have to talk fast nowadays to get your point across inside the 45 second attention span of the younger generation.

Get off my lawn.

Where are my slippers?

Man11 · 29-01-2016 01:29PM

donegaLroad wrote: »

I hadn't realised Pluto had been downgraded..

I was reading about the planet Nibiru theory a few years ago.

6 thousand years ago, the ancient Sumarians knew of a large planet with an orbit of 3000 years.

Nlblru came up again , with David bowie's new album check it out . Nasa have kept this quiet for years .
there must be some truth to it .

Man11 · 29-01-2016 01:29PM

orbit of 3000 years.[/quote]

Nlblru came up again , with David bowie's new album check it out . Nasa have kept this quiet for years .
there must be some truth to it .

Planet Nine

Comments