A Sense of Doubt blog post #2277 - Snatching Planet 9
Still posting late to catch up and in low power mode because of my wacky week.
Straight share. Thanks for tuning in.
LOW POWER MODE: I sometimes put the blog in what I call LOW POWER MODE. If you see this note, the blog is operating like a sleeping computer, maintaining static memory, but making no new computations. If I am in low power mode, it's because I do not have time to do much that's inventive, original, or even substantive on the blog. This means I am posting straight shares, limited content posts, reprints, often something qualifying for the THAT ONE THING category and other easy to make posts to keep me daily. That's the deal. Thanks for reading.
FROM: http://gizmodo.com/our-sun-may-have-snatched-planet-9-from-outside-the-sol-1791075905
Our Sun May Have Snatched Planet 9 From Outside the Solar System
Those with a Pluto-the-planet-shaped void in their hearts have been eagerly following updates about Planet 9, a hypothetical world thought to be 10 times more massive than Earth and roughly 1,000 astronomical units (AU) away from the Sun. While there are naysayers aplenty, new research validates believers — and delivers some unexpected news about the planet’s rough childhood.
Space.com reports that after months of research, James Vesper, an undergraduate student at New Mexico State University (NMSU), announced at the 229th gathering of American Astronomical Society (AAS) it’s “very plausible” that Planet 9 was a “rogue planet”—a planetary-mass object that wanders around the galaxy unattached to a star. If he’s right, this would mean our Sun snatched the unsuspecting planet like a cosmic Hamburglar stealing a snack.
Vesper and his mentor, NMSU professor Paul Mason, came to this conclusion after running 156 simulations of possible encounters between our Sun and various rogue planets. Vesper said that in about 60 percent of the encounters, the incoming rogue planet would enter the solar system and eventually get ejected. But, in 40 percent of the simulations, the rogue was captured by the solar system and stayed put—sometimes booting another planet out of orbit in the process. It’s not a definitive explanation of Planet 9's origin, or a confirmation of its existence, but it’s certainly feasible.
Vesper and his mentor, NMSU professor Paul Mason, came to this conclusion after running 156 simulations of possible encounters between our Sun and various rogue planets. Vesper said that in about 60 percent of the encounters, the incoming rogue planet would enter the solar system and eventually get ejected. But, in 40 percent of the simulations, the rogue was captured by the solar system and stayed put—sometimes booting another planet out of orbit in the process. It’s not a definitive explanation of Planet 9's origin, or a confirmation of its existence, but it’s certainly feasible.
The fact that rogue planets are abundant—possibly even more so than the number of planets with suns—also bolsters Vesper and Mason’s argument.
At this point, Planet 9, rogue or not, is still a pile of hypotheticals. But Konstantin Batygin, an assistant professor of planetary sciences at Caltech, thinks Vesper’s findings could be legit.
“It is certainly plausible that Planet 9 is captured object,” Batygin, who has pioneered research around the hypothetical world, told Gizmodo. “Without knowing the precise orbit, it is difficult to decisively confirm or refute rogue capture as Planet 9’s origin story, but it’s certainly possible.”
Regardless of its origins, Batygin said we should remain curious about this weird world.
“I’m quite certain that Planet 9 is really out there,” he said. “The number of seemingly unrelated puzzles within the solar system that are resolved by Planet 9’s existence is simply too great for it all to be a coincidence.”
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2105.13 - 10:10
- Days ago = 2141 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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