Starship Asterisk*

THX1138 wrote:how can this even be possible ?

Despite their surprising results, the authors recognise that their data comes up against two problems. On the one hand, their proposal goes against the predictions of current models on the formation of the solar system, which state that there are no other planets moving in circular orbits beyond Neptune.

However, the recent discovery by the ALMA radio telescope of a planet-forming disk more than 100 astronomical units from the star HL Tauri, which is younger than the Sun and more massive, suggests that planets can form several hundred astronomical units away from the centre of the system.

On the other hand, the team recognises that the analysis is based on a sample with few objects (specifically 13), but they point out that in the coming months more results are going to be published, making the sample larger. "If it is confirmed, our results may be truly revolutionary for astronomy," says de la Fuente Marcos.

THX1138 wrote:Because for one, they are talking about something larger than earth / something that big would have to block out background stars and so would have been noticed............No ??

And then #2 if they are ( icy-super earths ) I would think that they would reflect all kinds of sunlight. No ???
Unless i guess if they are dirty black icy-super earths.

THX1138 wrote:Thanks guys
@ Chris / Question / looking at a deep view of our milky way there are millions of stars in practically every direction so wouldn't a planet or even a moon be blocking out thousands of stars at any given time / When one is looking at those deep field views are closer objects in the foreground lost ?

THX1138 wrote:Before i heard about this X and Y planets possibly being out there it seems like forever that one crackpot or another were always talking about some mysterious planet X with scientists always discounting the possibility............And now there might be Hmmmmm..
And @ geckzilla, this Ceres thing is awesome cool, wondering what the white spot is and I'm glad we will all find out very soon

BMAONE23 wrote:I would say that the best explanation is that of cryovolcanism

THX1138 wrote:Before i heard about this X and Y planets possibly being out there it seems like forever that one crackpot or another were always talking about some mysterious planet X with scientists always discounting the possibility............And now there might be Hmmmmm..

THX1138 wrote:Even if its found to be a gas or all rock planet?

THX1138 wrote:@ BDanielMayfield
I like the name Ice Planet Zero, for some reason it seems less boring than all the rest

bystander wrote: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=34347

MargaritaMc wrote:Today's astrobite by David Wilson, a PhD student at the University of Warwick, explores this research Are There Two Missing Planets In The Solar System?

The astronomers who discovered 2012 VP133 had suggested just that, hypothesizing that the orbits of both their new KBO and Sedna were being shaped by an undetected super-Earth (a planet roughly twice the size of our own). The authors of this paper go one step further: The orbits of the KBOs can be best explained by two super-Earths, one at around 200 au and another at roughly 250 au. They would be locked in a orbital resonance, where the inner planet goes round the Sun three times for every two orbits of the outer world. The gravitational interactions between these planets and the KBOs would force them onto the unusually similar orbits that the finders of 2012 VP133 had observed.

So are there undiscovered planets waiting for us to find them? This would be particularly exciting as there are no super-Earths that we know of in the Solar System, but they appear to be abundant around other stars. However, the authors note that their conclusions have one huge caveat: small number statistics.

The calculations suggesting the existence of unseen planets is based on observations of only 13 KBOs, few enough that the clustering could be down to simple chance. If future observations find many more KBOs that don’t fit the pattern, then the case for missing planets will disappear. If, on the other hand, they do match what has already been seen, then their behaviour could be used to narrow down the locations of the unseen super-Earths, giving future astronomers the information they need to find them. The authors finish by noting that, if these super-Earths are there, then the effects of their gravity could be detected by the New Horizons spacecraft, currently approaching Pluto for our first close look at a KBO.