Last Month's "Planet X" Announcement Was Probably Wrong 44
KentuckyFC (1144503) writes "Last month, astronomers announced the discovery of the most distant body in the Solar System, a dwarf planet called 2012VP113. They also said this body's orbit was strangely aligned with several other dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt and that this could be the result of these bodies being herded by a much larger Planet X even further from the Sun. They calculated that this hidden planet could be between 2 and 15 times the mass of the Earth and orbiting at a distance of between 200 AU and 300 AU, an announcement that triggered excited headlines around the world. Now it looks as though these predictions were wildly optimistic. It turns out that the position of Planet X can be constrained more tightly using orbital measurements of other planets. And when this data is added into the mix, Planet X can only only orbit at much greater distances, if it exists at all. The new calculations suggest that a planet twice the mass of Earth cannot orbit any closer than about 500 AU. And a planet 15 times the mass of Earth must be at least 1000 AU distant. What's more, the New Horizons mission currently on its way to Pluto, should constrain the distance to beyond 4700 AU. So any Planet X hunters out there are likely to be disappointed."
If they *do* find it... (Score:5, Interesting)
How this news will be interpreted (Score:1)
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Planetary_mnemonics [wikipedia.org]
Re:If they *do* find it... (Score:5, Funny)
Mary's "Virgin" Excuse Made Joseph Suspect Upstairs Neighbour.
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Will you forget they lost Pluto? (Score:2)
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the size of the orbit would be so immense that it's extremely improbable for it to 'clear it's orbit of debris'
Logical deduction based on your knowledge of astrometrics and gravitation, or vague assumption based on a hunch?
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Seriously? It's 8 names in order....just memorize them.
Look, I'm all for mnemonics (although there are better methods) when needing to memorize multiple-dozens of pieces of information, but for a list of 8, I can't believe people use a mnemonic.
Do you also use a mnemonic to remember the days of the week in order? Months of the year?
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Just For Memory, A Mouse Jumps Jelly And Somebody Orange Never Diets.
Jelly Frogs March About My Jelly Jungle Almost Slipping Onto Neighbour's Doormat
Jammy Fingers Might Annoy My Jealous Jumping Auntie So Ought Not Dance
Jumping Frogs Might Annoy Me Just Joking About Skipping Over Napping Daddy
Jane Found Michael And Martin Juggling Jelly And Sprinkles Outside Nelly's Door
Then, of course, there are mnemonics [wikipedia.org] for even shorter lists of words, used by much more educated people as learning tools.
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Puranus?
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Just call it Poop, since it is found outside Uranus. :P
Likely Wrong (Score:2)
Duh, they were announcing planet X. Those anouncements have always turned out to be wrong! That was fun. We'll do this again in a couple of years.
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Why disappointed? (Score:5, Interesting)
Only the mad conspiracy hatters will be disappointed, because they already know that planet X is on a collision course with us. But then, they don't care about new findings,unless they support their theory. Amateur astronomers however will be just as excited when a planet is found much further away.
It's actually a very exciting and interesting article... it means that in the near future, we won't be searching for a needle in a haystack. We know pretty much where to find the needle, if there is any. To me, that is even more reason to search, which hopefully opens up some funding for the scientists who produce these awesome results.
For me personally, the really exciting thing is that there is so much out there. Perhaps no earth-sized planet, many more dwarf planet than I had ever dreamed...
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Only the mad conspiracy hatters will be disappointed, because they already know that planet X is on a collision course with us.
Uh... how would that be a conspiracy? Planet X and the Sun are conspiring to destroy Earth?
Yeah but I've already seen the documentary (Score:2)
The Man From Planet X [imdb.com] told me all I needed to know about a rogue planet floating around the solar system.
What about Neptune? (Score:1)
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The Voyager 1 Principle (Score:3)
So does this now mean that Voyager 1 has, or hasn't, left the solar system?
Cos that's how I usually gauge astronomical retractions.
WTF is Planet X? (Score:2)
What is Planet X supposed to be nowadays? It was supposed to be a planet beyond Pluto. But first off, Pluto isn't a planet anymore. And there have been a number of KBO's discovered that that are comparable to Pluto. Does Planet X have to meet the actual definition of a planet?
So what's Planet X if it hasn't already been found and named Eris? Or Makemake? Or Sedna? Or should it actually be called Planet IX, since Pluto isn't a real planet anymore?
This whole Planet X thing sounds absurd. Between this, and the
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I don't think that's a numeral, but an unknown.