'Planet Nine'? Cosmic Objects' Strange Orbits May Have a Different Explanation

The bullying presence of a big, undiscovered "Planet Nine" isn't necessary to explain the strange orbits of a handful of objects in the outer reaches of the solar system, new research suggests.

Last month, Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown, both astronomers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, proposed the existence of Planet Nine, a world perhaps 10 times more massive than Earth that orbits far beyond Pluto, completing one lap around the sun every 10,000 to 20,000 Earth years.

Batygin and Brown didn't see Planet Nine; rather, they inferred its existence based on the odd orbital characteristics of six bodies in the "scattered disk" portion of the Kuiper Belt, a realm of icy bodies that lies beyond Neptune. For example, these six objects all have similar "arguments of perihelion." ['Planet Nine' Worlds Are the Most Common Ones We Know (Infographic)]-








A body's argument of perihelion is basically the ratio of how much it pitches (wobbles forward or backward) to how much it rolls (moves left or right) as it orbits the sun, said Ann-Marie Madigan, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. This characteristic should be random from one Kuiper Belt object (KBO) to another, she added.

Imagine seeing a number of boats spread across San Francisco Bay that are all pitching and rolling in the same direction, and with the same pitch/roll ratio, Madigan said Jan. 26 during a talk at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, California.

"That would be really strange," Madigan said. "And so this is why it's so strange that these minor planets in the outer solar system are doing this."

Therefore, something must be shaping the orbits of these far-flung bodies, the reasoning goes. Batygin and Brown believe the culprit is the hypothesized Planet Nine; their computer models suggest this undiscovered world is about 10 times more massive than Earth and orbits the sun on a highly elliptical path, coming within perhaps 200 astronomical units (AU) of the sun and getting as far away as 600 to 1,200 AU. (One AU is the average distance from Earth to the sun — about 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers. For perspective, Neptune orbits 30 AU from the sun, and Pluto never gets more than 49 AU from our star.)

But Madigan and her co-author Michael McCourt of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics say there's another possible explanation. Modeling work performed by the duo suggests that the scattered-disk objects could "self-organize," pushing and pulling each other into their unusual orbits — as long as there are a whole lot of them out there. ['Planet Nine': Facts About the Mysterious World (Infographic)]-

If the total mass of all of the minor planets in the scattered disk is roughly equivalent to the mass of Earth, the resulting orbit shaping would have occurred within about 600 million years of the solar system's birth, Madigan said during her SETI Institute talk.

"So we really need that much mass in minor planets for this to happen in the solar system," she said. "If there was much less mass, this wouldn't occur [with]in the age of the solar system."

See more at: http://www.space.com/31817-planet-nine-existence-question.html#sthash.QyGavDy6.dpuf

How to name the possible ninth planet in our solar system

On Wednesday, a team of scientists revealed new evidence that a large planet may be orbiting the sun from the outskirts of the solar system. If such a world exists, it would be the ninth major planet in the solar system.

While researchers have no direct evidence of the object, they did see strange perturbations in the orbits of objects deep in the Kuiper Belt — the group of icy bodies in Pluto's part of space — that seem to suggest the existence of a planet one to 10 times more massive than Earth that orbits the sun every 10,000 to 20,000 years.

If confirmed, the discovery of the new planet would be unprecedented in this day and age. It would also present us with a unique challenge that humanity has not faced since planet Neptune was discovered in 1846.

If it's actually discovered, what will we name it?

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is responsible for naming celestial objects that humans discover out in the universe. This means that the IAU would, in theory at least, be responsible for naming Planet Nine in the event it is confirmed.

However, it's slightly more complicated than that.

Artist's Illustration of possible Planet Nine.

IMAGE: CALTECH/R. HURT (IPAC)

This isn't just any cosmic name.

In recent years, scientists have discovered multiple candidates for dwarf planets in the outer solar system, but if this so-called "Planet Nine" is confirmed, it will mark the first time a "major" planet has been discovered since Neptune.

The possible confirmation of Planet Nine's existence could come soon: Mike Brown, one of the co-authors of the new Planet Nine study, thinks that scientists will likely be able to confirm the discovery of the planet in the next five years or so because we now know where to look.

Planet Nine's official moniker would need to carry some serious weight. Unlike a world circling a star light-years from our sun, this brave new solar system world would literally rewrite textbooks. The planet, if confirmed, could join the ranks of Jupiter, Saturn, Mars — names from mythology steeped in meaning for millions of people the world over.

It took no time for people to start suggesting their own names for Planet Nine on Twitter.

There is also no precedent for this kind of naming or discovery in the history of the IAU, according to Lars Lindberg Christensen, IAU's press officer.

The organization was founded in 1919, well after the discovery of Neptune, and while the union has established working groups for naming planets outside the solar system or other objects like comets and asteroids, there is no clear group that would be responsible for naming another major planet in the solar system.

The naming of a ninth major planet in the solar system would be "a very unique case," Christensen told Mashable. "There would definitely have to be some discussions."

While it's too early to even speculate on what the name of the planet might be, Christensen said, it would likely involve asking the researchers who made the discovery what they would want to name the new body.

For his part, Brown doesn't feel like it's his place to name a new planet in the solar system.

"I don't think I would [name the planet]," Brown told Mashable in an interview.

"There have been two planets discovered since pre-history at least — only Uranus and Neptune. 

The discovery of a third planet is such a big thing in human culture that I don't think any one person should get to name it," Brown said.

The discovery of a third planet is such a big thing in human culture that I don't think any one person should get to name it," Brown said.

"It's like discovering a continent."

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Source mashable

Proof for 'Planet 9' within our Solar System (Gallery)

Proof for 'Planet 9' within our Solar System (Gallery)

Caltech’s Konstantin Batygin, a assistant professor of planetary science, and Mike Brown, the Richard and Barbara Rosenberg teacher of Planetary Astronomy, talk about latest analysis that delivers proof of a huge planet drawing a strange, extremely extended orbit within the outer solar system.

Evidence of a Ninth Planet

Scientists today declare there’s extremely stronger proof of a planet 9 in the solar system. They’ve longer believed there was clearly a “Planet Nine,” also called “Planet X,” but hot research will make it a lot more of the possibility. Among the experts active in the new results is Mike Brown, the same researcher who dethroned Pluto from the past status as the solar system’s ninth planet.

1. Planet 9 May Be Real

The evidence was published in The Astronomical Journal. You can read the study at this link.

Mike Brown, Caltech professor and one of the researchers who made the discovery, said:

2. Planet Nine Could Be More Massive Than the Earth And Located Deep in Our Solar System

This diagram reveals Planet Nine’s predicted orbit (in orange), next to the orbits of the six most distant recognized objects in the solar system (in pink) and Neptune’s orbit (in magenta). Computations recommend Planet Nine’s orbit must trigger further objects to orbit straight line to Nine’s plane. 5 objects (whose orbits are shown in blue) fit this hope. (Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC))

3. The Planet Hasn’t Actually Been Seen Yet, But the Odds That It’s Real Are Very High

Planet X could be 10 times more massive than Earth. (Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC))

4. Scientists Have Been Searching for Planet X for Years

This diagram tells a closeup of Planet Nine’s orbit across sun, along with Neptune’s orbit (magenta) and the orbits of the six most distant known objects in the solar system (in pink). These six objects’ orbits are influenced by Planet Nine’s large size. (Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC))

5. One of the Scientists Who Made the Discovery Also “Killed” Pluto’s Planet Status

Caltech professor Mike Brown and assistant professor Konstanin Batygin published the paper that introduced the incredible findings on Planet X. (Lance Hayashida/Caltech)

Planet 9 Fast Facts You Should Know

source : viralberg.com