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Scientists say they have found evidence of an unknown planet in our solar system

independent.co.uk

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Re: Scientists say they have found evidence of an unknown planet in our solar system

#11

Post by plasticchris »

dotnet00 wrote: post #7
plasticchris wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, ether, and dark matter. The equations don’t agree with observations so we invent a thing we have not observed to explain it. I wish it would be explained like this in popular science, went to a planetarium and they presented dark matter as absolute fact.

For the average person, dark matter should be presented as absolute fact. It's the leading explanation that best explains most of the associated phenomenon, and the average person has repeatedly shown themselves to be unable to understand what a scientist means when they call something a theory. Emphasizing that we haven't explicitly discovered what dark matter actually consists of inevitably leads to people who don'…

It should be presented as this is what we think, there are some gaps we filled in here, and these gaps are usually where the next big advance comes from. No need to even use the word theory, just explain in simple words and people can get it.

Re: Scientists say they have found evidence of an unknown planet in our solar system

#12

Post by perihelions »

neverokay wrote: post #5

We’re pointing the JWT pretty far out, so why wouldn’t we just point a camera at this thing?

JWST has a field of view of 2.2 arcminutes. Same as a 0.6 millimeter pinhole at a distance of 1 meter. It's not a telescope for blind surveying where you don't know where to look (as is the case here)—there's much more suited telescopes for that.

Re: Scientists say they have found evidence of an unknown planet in our solar system

#13

Post by bryanlarsen »

dotnet00 wrote: post #7
plasticchris wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, ether, and dark matter. The equations don’t agree with observations so we invent a thing we have not observed to explain it. I wish it would be explained like this in popular science, went to a planetarium and they presented dark matter as absolute fact.

For the average person, dark matter should be presented as absolute fact. It's the leading explanation that best explains most of the associated phenomenon, and the average person has repeatedly shown themselves to be unable to understand what a scientist means when they call something a theory. Emphasizing that we haven't explicitly discovered what dark matter actually consists of inevitably leads to people who don'…

And then we lose those people completely when the "facts" change. Better not to call them facts in the first place.

Re: Scientists say they have found evidence of an unknown planet in our solar system

#16

Post by Buttons840 »

dotnet00 wrote: post #7
plasticchris wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, ether, and dark matter. The equations don’t agree with observations so we invent a thing we have not observed to explain it. I wish it would be explained like this in popular science, went to a planetarium and they presented dark matter as absolute fact.

For the average person, dark matter should be presented as absolute fact. It's the leading explanation that best explains most of the associated phenomenon, and the average person has repeatedly shown themselves to be unable to understand what a scientist means when they call something a theory. Emphasizing that we haven't explicitly discovered what dark matter actually consists of inevitably leads to people who don'…

What's more engaging?

"We know the facts. We have it all figured out." Then the facts change years later.

Or "There's a great mystery here, a secret we haven't yet found. We're still looking, but here's some ideas that seem to explain 90% of what we're seeing."

The second is so much more engaging and would promote more interest and science funding.

Re: Scientists say they have found evidence of an unknown planet in our solar system

#17

Post by neverokay »

ksherlock wrote: post #14
neverokay wrote: post #5

We’re pointing the JWT pretty far out, so why wouldn’t we just point a camera at this thing?

If you step in a pile of dog doo, that's evidence there's a dog. Now just point your camera at it...

Hey, no stupid questions right?

But if you suspect it’s a planet, you know it’s in orbit around the sun. Feels like something we can track.

Re: Scientists say they have found evidence of an unknown planet in our solar system

#18

Post by alganet »

dotnet00 wrote: post #7
plasticchris wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, ether, and dark matter. The equations don’t agree with observations so we invent a thing we have not observed to explain it. I wish it would be explained like this in popular science, went to a planetarium and they presented dark matter as absolute fact.

For the average person, dark matter should be presented as absolute fact. It's the leading explanation that best explains most of the associated phenomenon, and the average person has repeatedly shown themselves to be unable to understand what a scientist means when they call something a theory. Emphasizing that we haven't explicitly discovered what dark matter actually consists of inevitably leads to people who don'…

> the average person has repeatedly shown themselves to be unable to understand what a scientist means when they call something a theory

The average person consumes science from news, not from scientists.

A lot of news outlets and "science communicators" have been repeatedly dumbing down scientific subjects for non-scientific purposes. Clickbait, ideology, lazyness.

The nature of dark matter should be presented to the public as it is. If we dumb it down too much, it's the same as not presenting it at all, or misrepresenting it.

Re: Scientists say they have found evidence of an unknown planet in our solar system

#19

Post by 1970-01-01 »

0xbadc0de5 wrote: post #15

Doesn't this topic come up every five years or so? Isn't it always a big nothing-burger? Numbers can be deceiving - and we are great at fooling ourselves. I'll reserve my interest for actual photographic evidence.

Yes. PlanetX has been discovered many times this and last century.

Re: Scientists say they have found evidence of an unknown planet in our solar system

#20

Post by shzhdbi09gv8ioi »

Konstantin is a terrific speaker, if you haven't watched him before you should give him a few minutes of your time, you won't be disappointed!

Here is a previous talk where he goes to great lengths to explain and visualize the Planet 9 hypothesis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywrgee0aiFI

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