Scientists find evidence that a ninth planet exists in our solar system

Shawn Knight

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Pluto saw its status as the ninth planet in our solar system stripped in 2006, a demotion that angered people worldwide. As it turns out, that reclassification may have been justified after all.

Michael E. Brown and fellow California Institute of Technology professor Konstantin Batygin presented evidence on Wednesday of the existence of a true ninth planet. Ironically enough, Brown is the man largely responsible for demoting Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet a decade ago.

It's worth clarifying that Brown and Batygin haven't actually located the new planet, having instead only inferred its presence based on the strange elliptical orbits of six known objects that orbit beyond Neptune.

The scientists say there's only a 0.007 percent chance that the clustering of objects is a coincidence. What they believe is happening is that a planet that has yet to be discovered with the mass of 10 Earths is influencing their orbits via gravitational pull.

Brown and Batygin prepared for the inevitable skepticism with months of computer simulations and detailed analyses of the orbits. After all, this isn't the first time people have claimed to find "Planet X" but what makes this different, Brown says, is simply that they're right.

Alessandro Morbidelli of the Côte d’Azur Observatory in France agrees, telling The New York Times that he believes they're onto something real and that he'd bet money on it.

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I'm confused as to how they are convinced a planet exist, while suggesting in the video it has yet to be spotted.
 
I'm confused as to how they are convinced a planet exist, while suggesting in the video it has yet to be spotted.


According to the article, they believe it's existence is inferred by the orbit of other objects in the solar system. It's the inference that convinced them.
 
Hmmmmmmm ..... sounds a bit like JPL and NASA are getting together for a little "bait & switch" ..... eh?
 
As telescopes and our understanding of the space increase it's very likely more of these anomaly planets are found, finding planets is only one of the hardest thing to do in space because they do not emit light as stars do. We thus have to rely on gravitational pull that effects other known bodies in space to locate them, it's all very interesting stuff, but this isn't the place to discuss it. Another thing to keep in mind, we're spending far more time trying to look for things at ever greater distances, new discoveries in our solar system are rare for two reason, first all the easy things have been discovered and second the fact that we can't actually see these objects and have to rely on more complicated techniques makes it very time consuming and at the end of the day you could come up with nothing for your troubles.
 
So what about the things orbiting the sun that this theoretical "Planet X" (Quotation marks, not because I don't believe it's there, just because there isn't enough solid evidence that it there and if it is there, the name might change. "Planet X" is most likely a placeholder name, like ununpentium's name, a mixture of numbers from greek and latin. I think un is short for the latin pronunciation of the number one and pent short for the greek pronunciation of five.) is affecting?
 
So what about the things orbiting the sun that this theoretical "Planet X" (Quotation marks, not because I don't believe it's there, just because there isn't enough solid evidence that it there and if it is there, the name might change. "Planet X" is most likely a placeholder name, like ununpentium's name, a mixture of numbers from greek and latin. I think un is short for the latin pronunciation of the number one and pent short for the greek pronunciation of five.) is affecting?
Well no. (And keep in mind I only skimmed your rudimentary math). But, this would have to be "Planet IX", since Pluto would have been "Planet IX" under the Roman Numeral System, until its fall from grace, or from "planethood", if you will. (One subtracted from 10). That is of course, if we're going to assume that "X" is a Roman numeral, and not a simple expression of an unknown commodity.
Someone really needs to build a real USS Enterprise soon! I want to know what's out there before I die, dammit.
Yes, but then we would still need a Vulcan to help fly it.

Moving on, I guess the only thing to make this supposed planet relevant on a tech blog about computers, would be to wonder if Apple has any immediate plans to open a store there....*nerd*

FWIW, I still think Pluto is a planet, but basically a beta version. It needs to bulk up a bit, eat a few comets, and try again.
 
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That would depend on the native economy and the trade value of ice.
Now if we started a rumor the there were Bitcoins stashed there, somebody might mount an expedition.

Or maybe they just might hijack someone else's expedition by stashing mining software in their computer(s).
 
Nah... Microsoft will simply buy it, then everyone will complain that they have a monopoly on extra-planetary software...
 
I'm with you, I desperately want more information about all these things too, plus I want to go for a ride!
You do realize on a long space voyage, one too many "are we there yets", will get you thrown out an airlock....:eek: Maybe you could get Elon Musk to go along..(y) I can only imagine the thrill of having him tell you all about himself for a couple of billion miles....:D
 
So what about the things orbiting the sun that this theoretical "Planet X" (Quotation marks, not because I don't believe it's there, just because there isn't enough solid evidence that it there and if it is there, the name might change. "Planet X" is most likely a placeholder name, like ununpentium's name, a mixture of numbers from greek and latin. I think un is short for the latin pronunciation of the number one and pent short for the greek pronunciation of five.) is affecting?
Well no. (And keep in mind I only skimmed your rudimentary math). But, this would have to be "Planet IX", since Pluto would have been "Planet IX" under the Roman Numeral System, until its fall from grace, or from "planethood", if you will. (One subtracted from 10). That is of course, if we're going to assume that "X" is a Roman numeral, and not a simple expression of an unknown commodity.
Someone really needs to build a real USS Enterprise soon! I want to know what's out there before I die, dammit.
Yes, but then we would still need a Vulcan to help fly it.

Moving on, I guess the only thing to make this supposed planet relevant on a tech blog about computers, would be to wonder if Apple has any immediate plans to open a store there....*nerd*

FWIW, I still think Pluto is a planet, but basically a beta version. It needs to bulk up a bit, eat a few comets, and try again.
I dont think pluto lost its planet hood because of its size. I think its is because of its noticeably more elliptical orbit which is more similar to that of a large meteor than a planet.
 
Well no. (And keep in mind I only skimmed your rudimentary math). But, this would have to be "Planet IX", since Pluto would have been "Planet IX" under the Roman Numeral System, until its fall from grace, or from "planethood", if you will. (One subtracted from 10). That is of course, if we're going to assume that "X" is a Roman numeral, and not a simple expression of an unknown commodity.
Yes, but then we would still need a Vulcan to help fly it.

Moving on, I guess the only thing to make this supposed planet relevant on a tech blog about computers, would be to wonder if Apple has any immediate plans to open a store there....*nerd*

FWIW, I still think Pluto is a planet, but basically a beta version. It needs to bulk up a bit, eat a few comets, and try again.

I didn't pick the name planet X, some scientist did that, I'm just talking about placeholder names. Also, where do Vulcans come into play? I'm very much a treky and I'm still a bit confused....
 
I didn't pick the name planet X, some scientist did that, I'm just talking about placeholder names. Also, where do Vulcans come into play? I'm very much a treky and I'm still a bit confused....
If you consider that my entire post was pretty much a harmless parody, you'll lose less sleep over it.

As to "a Vulcan to help fly it", (The "Enterprise), you'll remember that when Earth had finally developed "warp drive", the Vulcans made contact with humans, and a Vulcan officer was assigned to accompany the ship on its maiden voyage. The part of "Sub Commander T'Pol", was played by Jolene Blalock, shown here, well out of uniform:
jolene-blalock-14a.jpg


To me it would seem, the Vulcans had perfected implant surgery centuries before humans. And what could be more conducive to good crew moral on a long space flight, than a buxom lass such as T'Pol to "salute", if you will.

Brush up you Trekkie mythology here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244365/

Or purchase the entire series on DVD: http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Ent...&sr=8-4&keywords=star+trek+enterprise+dvd+set To enhance your reference library.
 
Ancient Astronaut theories have been describing a outer planet with a 15000 to 20000 yr orbit for years. Read the 12 Planet series by Zecharia Sitchin. I am not saying he is right, just that many crypto-archaeologists have been talking about the planet x for years. This is nothing new. It is just now being talked about by mainstream scientists.

This idea has been around for a long time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V9GsxgFNxw
 
A new planet appears right after David Bowie die..... interesting.
Right. Mr. Bowie cultivated the image of being a space alien to good monetary advantage. Compared to a lot of music from the same period, I found the, "A Space Oddity" track, rather lackluster and boring. (Yes, I'm aware that's most likely an unpopular and minority opinion).

Mr. Bowie starred in a movie drawn from this novel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Fell_to_Earth_(novel

The movie: http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Who-Fell-Earth/dp/B002ZBZFNY

The movie and the song are likely the causative origins of Dave's alien mythology.
 
Right. Mr. Bowie cultivated the image of being a space alien to good monetary advantage. Compared to a lot of music from the same period, I found the, "A Space Oddity" track, rather lackluster and boring. (Yes, I'm aware that's most likely an unpopular and minority opinion).

Mr. Bowie starred in a movie drawn from this novel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Fell_to_Earth_(novel

The movie: http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Who-Fell-Earth/dp/B002ZBZFNY

The movie and the song are likely the causative origins of Dave's alien mythology.

Ohhhh ok, I really thought he was an alien.
 
Ohhhh ok, I really thought he was an alien.
It's OK to go on thinking that...(y) I should apologize for trying to pull you out of your mystical reverie. I'm just of that era. I saw the concert, and the movie on its first release. Then there was also the whole, "Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars" album & tour to consider.

After which point, it becomes a, "chicken or the egg", dilemma. Did Bowie come from outer space and write an album about it, or did he write the album first, and then start imagining he was from outer space? You make the call.;)
 
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