Planet Nine

[Airbrush]

Anyone catch the first episode of the new season of "How the Universe Works"? It was about the new "Planet 9" that scientists think exists about 100 Billion miles from the sun, or an average of 20 times the distance from the sun to Neptune and Pluto. They think it is about 10 Earth masses and 2 to 4 Earth diameters in size.

 

My question is since such a large planet could exist far outside our usual solar system without our knowing it, does that mean there could be many planets the size of Pluto or larger in that region without us ever being able to detect them?

 

"...The most useful result, from Batygin’s perspective, was one that went beyond the question he and Brown had set out to answer. Their initial problem had been to explain what could drive the paths of six very distant, recently discovered KBOs. But as they developed their model, it consistently produced a few objects that moved on a completely unexpected path, perpendicular to the plane of the solar system. As he worked on the calculation, Batyagin hadn’t known of any real objects that behaved that way, but the model kept demanding them. This, he thought, “must be strong counter evidence for Planet Nine—because we would have seen those orbits.” That’s when he asked Brown—the observer of the pair—what he thought. Brown produced the data for a KBO with an odd track. “We plotted the real data on top of the model” Batyagin recalls, and they fell “exactly where they were supposed to be.” That was, he says, the epiphany. “It was a dramatic moment. This thing I thought could disprove it turned out to be the strongest evidence for Planet Nine.”

 

​"...For now, Planet Nine seems the only satisfactory explanation for everything now known about the outer suburbs of the solar system. “If Newton is right, then I think we’re in pretty good shape,” says Batyagin. “We’re after a real physical effect that needs explanation. The dynamics of our model are persuasive.” And yet, he adds, that’s not enough. “Until Planet Nine is caught on camera it does not count as being real. All we have now is an echo.”

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/01/a-new-planet-or-a-red-herring/426810/

 

 

[mathematic]

Planets the size of Pluto can be detected if you know where to look. Planet 9 is supposed to be much bigger, but it still hasn't been found.

[AbstractDreamer]

Is that the sole observations/reason behind the conclusion that planet 9 exists with some mass M and a radius R from the Sun? Like some tilting? or the way the 8 planets orbits?

 

Is planet 9 the only solution to explain these observations?

 

Instead of a single planet 9, could there not be multiple planets of different sizes and different masses that might equally account for such observations?

 

Is it possible for objects the size of planets to be made of dark matter?

Edited December 2, 2016 by AbstractDreamer

[Ophiolite]

Is that the sole observations/reason behind the conclusion that planet 9 exists with some mass M and a radius R from the Sun?

Correct.

 

 

Is planet 9 the only solution to explain these observations?

It is the best solution the investigators have been able to come up with. It is unlikely to be the only one.

 

 

 

Instead of a single planet 9, could there not be multiple planets of different sizes and different masses that might equally account for such observations?

It would likely require a very bizarre combination of circumstances to come even close to the same results. (For bizarre translate that as "too improbable to be worth considering".

 

 

 

Is it possible for objects the size of planets to be made of dark matter?

Pass.

[Airbrush]

Planets the size of Pluto can be detected if you know where to look. Planet 9 is supposed to be much bigger, but it still hasn't been found.

 

So if we don't know where to look it is possible for Pluto-sized dwarf planets to exist far out among the Kuiper Belt and never be detected, because there may not be nearby objects that can be gravitationally affected by it.

Edited December 4, 2016 by Airbrush

[mathematic]

 

So if we don't know where to look it is possible for Pluto-sized dwarf planets to exist far out among the Kuiper Belt and never be detected, because there may not be nearby objects that can be gravitationally affected by it.

yes - although never may be too extreme.

[imatfaal]

!

Moderator Note

 

branch on dark matter planets split off to its own thread