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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
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?
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.
225 AU is a long way, and the volume of space to clear goes up quadratically with distance; this object would have 50,000 times more space to clear than does Earth. The orbital period also goes up with distance [edit, reply is right that it's the 3/2th power], so so does the time between interactions with any particular object.
Multiply those together and you would have an object more than cubically (3.5th power) less effective than Earth at clearing its neighborhood over time, such that it may not have happened in the lifetime of the solar system.
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?
Can’t the oddity of planet orbits also be explained by a sun in motion causing the orbits to be a little dragged shape? The direction of drag is probably the ghost planet 9?
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.
According the the wrong-headed AIU definition. So, yes, _Jupiter_ could be a dwarf planet, if it hasn't cleared it's orbital neighborhood for some reason.
If Planet 9 contains rare earth metals, mining and manufacturing facilities could be built there. This should help alleviate the chip shortage.
However!
A Mars or Earth-sized planet sufficiently far out in the solar system might be sufficiently cool to be able to retain helium in its atmosphere, without being a gas giant planet. If so, it might conceivably be the best place in the solar system to obtain 3He, an isotope that has considerable attractiveness for use in fusion reactors. A D-3He fusion rocket might even provide a nice way of getting out there and back in a reasonable time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
An object with multiple Earth masses could hardly be classified as a dwarf planet.
It very well could. Defining a planet as major or dwarf goes by its ability or inability to "clear the neighborhood", to control or remove objects of smaller mass in its orbital area. 225 AU is a long way, and the volume of space to clear goes up quadratically with distance; this object would have 50,000 times more space to clear than does Earth. The orbital period also goes up with distance [edit, reply is right tha…
By Kepler's Third Law, isn't it proportional to the square root of the cube (3/2th power) of the distance?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
An object with multiple Earth masses could hardly be classified as a dwarf planet.
It very well could. Defining a planet as major or dwarf goes by its ability or inability to "clear the neighborhood", to control or remove objects of smaller mass in its orbital area. 225 AU is a long way, and the volume of space to clear goes up quadratically with distance; this object would have 50,000 times more space to clear than does Earth. The orbital period also goes up with distance [edit, reply is right tha…