08-13-2016, 04:49 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-13-2016, 09:28 AM by senona.
Edit Reason: fix link
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Quote:That means anything that doesn’t orbit within the plane of the solar system or spins in the opposite direction must have been knocked off course by something else.
“It suggests that there’s more going on in the outer solar system than we’re fully aware of,” says Matthew Holman at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, part of the team that discovered Niku using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 1 Survey (Pan-STARRS 1) on Haleakala, Maui.
And it’s the unknown that excites astronomers. “Whenever you have some feature that you can’t explain in the outer solar system, it’s immensely exciting because it’s in some sense foreshadowing a new development,” says Konstantin Batygin at the California Institute of Technology.
Hmmm, there sure does seem to be a lot going on near our solar system of late.
I bet it does excite the astronomers, the not knowing. Ha
Speaking of Planet 9, this is where they suspect Mysterious Planet Nine may have given our solar system its bizarre tilt
Quote:Upon further analysis, the new TNO appears to be part of another group orbiting in a highly inclined plane, so Holman’s team tested to see if their objects could also be attributed to the gravitational pull of Planet Nine.
It turns out Niku is too close to the solar system to be within the suggested world’s sphere of influence, so there must be another explanation. The team also tried to see if an undiscovered dwarf planet, perhaps similar to Pluto, could supply an explanation, but didn’t have any luck. “We don’t know the answer,” says Holman.
Bannister couldn’t be more thrilled. “It’s wonderful that it’s so confusing,” she says. “I’m looking forward to seeing what the theoretical analysists do once they get their hands on this one.”
But Batygin isn’t jumping up and down just yet. “As they say in the paper, what they have right now is a hint,” he says. “If this hint develops into a complete story that would be fantastic.”
Like kids with a new toy.
Oh I wish them luck, truly!