Weird object spotted beyond Neptune

[guohua]

Yes and they're calling it NIKU. 

This mass appears to be traveling in the opposite direction the other planets travel in.

“I hope everyone has buckled their seatbelts because the outer solar system just got a lot weirder.” That’s what Michele Bannister, an astronomer at Queens University, Belfast tweeted on Monday.

She was referring to the discovery of a TNO or trans-Neptunian object, something which sits beyond Neptune in the outer solar system. This one is 160,000 times fainter than Neptune, which means the icy world could be less than 200 kilometres in diameter. It’s currently above the plane of the solar system and with every passing day, it’s moving upwards – a fact that makes it an oddity.

The TNO orbits in a plane that’s tilted 110 degrees to the plane of the solar system. What’s more, it swings around the sun backwards unlike most of the other objects in the solar system. With this in mind, the team that discovered the TNO nicknamed it “Niku” after the Chinese adjective for rebellious.

To grasp how truly rebellious it is, remember that a flat plane is the signature of a planetary system, as a star-forming gas cloud creates a flat disk of dust and gas around it. “Angular momentum forces everything to have that one spin direction all the same way,” says Bannister. “It’s the same thing with a spinning top, every particle is spinning the same direction.”
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.

 Read the rest of the article here: Source
 
I should mention, That the elusive Planet Nine is mentioned is this article here:

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.

[senona]

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

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!

[BIAD]

Like kids with a new toy.

Oh I wish them luck, truly!

Yeah... and here's me thinking that these guys with the big telescopes and
letters behind their names had the solar-system all figured-out!!!

The days of the flat, calm voice that told you that the educated elite had
everything under control and you can just go back to paying your taxes
and tending your fields, now has a slight wavering tone in it's 'sciencey'
announcements!

It's big and bad out there, and being top-of-the-tree down here means
diddley-squat to what awaits us among the stars.
(Cue ominous music here!)

[Daitengu]

They forgot the important questions ..... is it habitable ..... and are there alcoholic beverages and dancing girls there ..... if not then not worth exploring it ....

[727Sky]

They forgot the important questions ..... is it habitable ..... and are there alcoholic beverages and dancing girls there ..... if not then not worth exploring it ....

If there were dancing girls there they would be classified as the frigid kind; at your age you need the warm and cuddly and much more available..

[Daitengu]

Ahhh... that would explain the origins of a few of my evil exes ..... nuke it now before is too late .... am conduct recon of pubs to find the cute cuddly ones ....

[guohua]

They forgot the important questions ..... is it habitable ..... and are there alcoholic beverages and dancing girls there ..... if not then not worth exploring it ....

Just for you my friend,,,,,