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A 1980s space telescope may have seen planet nine

gizmodo.com

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Re: A 1980s space telescope may have seen planet nine

#11

Post by ziddoap »

gre wrote: post #7

Here's a youtube video by Anton Petrov describing the paper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSyAO4fGZOE

He's always quick on these, and always with quality videos.

Anyone with an interest in space who has not watched any of Anton's videos are seriously missing out.

Re: A 1980s space telescope may have seen planet nine

#13

Post by lainga »

smlacy wrote: post #12

Am I the only one who's mildly annoyed by the 9th planet being referred to as Planet X? Seems like "Planet Ix" (same pronunciation!) would have been a better name?

The designation was not a Roman numeral but Lowell's designation for "unknown". It would have been the 9th planet if discovered, at the time Lowell coined it, anyway

Re: A 1980s space telescope may have seen planet nine

#15

Post by Diederich »

ziddoap wrote: post #11
gre wrote: post #7

Here's a youtube video by Anton Petrov describing the paper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSyAO4fGZOE

He's always quick on these, and always with quality videos. Anyone with an interest in space who has not watched any of Anton's videos are seriously missing out.

So say we all.

I watch all of his videos and it's always an interesting, learning experience.

Re: A 1980s space telescope may have seen planet nine

#16

Post by readthenotes1 »

croddin wrote: post #10

If this object did exist, wouldn't it be classified as a dwarf planet since, like Pluto, with a highly elliptical orbit it would be difficult to clear it of other Kuiper belt objects?

"Scientists who search for Planet Nine estimate that its mass is several times bigger than Earth’s... "

So no. It won't be a dwarf planet.

Re: A 1980s space telescope may have seen planet nine

#17

Post by rich_sasha »

smlacy wrote: post #12

Am I the only one who's mildly annoyed by the 9th planet being referred to as Planet X? Seems like "Planet Ix" (same pronunciation!) would have been a better name?

I think it's a semi-deliberate pun. It was Planet 10 when people started looking for it. Then it would be "Planet 9", which is confusing. So they called it then "Planet X" as in 'ex', nerdily harking back to the good old days when Pluto was still a planet.

Re: A 1980s space telescope may have seen planet nine

#19

Post by alex_young »

croddin wrote: post #10

If this object did exist, wouldn't it be classified as a dwarf planet since, like Pluto, with a highly elliptical orbit it would be difficult to clear it of other Kuiper belt objects?

An object with multiple Earth masses could hardly be classified as a dwarf planet.

Re: A 1980s space telescope may have seen planet nine

#20

Post by echelon »

HenryKissinger wrote: post #8

If Planet 9 contains rare earth metals, mining and manufacturing facilities could be built there. This should help alleviate the chip shortage.

We have plenty of rare earths here on our homeworld. If we run out (which we won't), we'll scavenge before we build the trillions of dollars of infrastructure necessary to mine the solar system.
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