So I was looking around on some news sights to catch up on things and I came across a story that scientists might have discovered a ninth planet in our solar system.

Since Pluto is no longer considered a planet, this discovery would make it the ninth one. They say it is big enough to be considered a true planet. Something like twenty times the size of the earth, believed to be a gas giant. Orbits the Sun every 10 to 20 thousand years.

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/discovering-planet-nine and http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/01/20/scientists-may-have-just-found-ninth-planet-and-its-massive.html?intcmp=hpbt4 there http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/feature-astronomers-say-neptune-sized-planet-lurks-unseen-solar-system if you do a search.

What do you think? Is this real and if it is is this the mystery "Planet X" that conspiracy theory people have been talking about?

There has always been speculation of some large body out there because of the elongated obits of Pluto and the other dwarf planets beyond.

Well it seems they have stronger evidence that they found one. Still it seems odd they would say they have strong evidence but not actual proof.

This is fascinating. I like when they make new discoveries in space.

I read the aol version of the story early and it seemed a bit sketchy to me (I am unfortunately a bit cynical naturally), Plus it was well to me poorly written with a great Gotcha headline and some rambling how the wont be sure for another 20 years........... OK my theory is in fact some one left a star destroyer parked there but i cant prove it for 20 years.

I will give your links a read maybe they did a better job.

(this is also the same team, well one of the guys that proved Pluto is not a planet, however you take that hehe)

Well technically Pluto is a planet, but not in the since of what we consider a planet. It's just placed into a different classification of planetoid called dwarf planet.


Any who, there were reports a few years ago that objects in the orc cloud were showing signs of being disturbed by the effects of a strong gravitational pull. So there has been evidence, it seems though they are withholding the data that's made them more bold to declare such a find.

They can see supernova light year away, take photos of stellar objects look at planets in other systems and even see other galaxies, but they have a theory their may be a another planet that they cant find, but it could be there, we can see whats on the surface of the moon just not whats down the end of the street, this is like so many reports like the planet hiding on the other side of the sun that we cant see because of its orbit, or water on mars, it would be nice for them to actually announce when something is actually there.

I think Pluto is still pissed about losing it's "planet" status and has put on a disguise!

Really, this looks cool to me. It's fun living in a time when our knowledge of our own "place in the galaxy" expands

Trixy, you make a good and valid point. Theories are one thing, facts are quite another

Just so you know, it's the same bloody astronomer who's responsible for Pluto losing it's planet status, who now expects us to believe he's discovered the "real" ninth planet. Sure pal, we've got High Definition pictures of Pluto ok? But no telescope has ever sighted your so-called "planet". Mmm hmm.

If it is really a gas giant it should be called Bespin.

Thing about supernovae and distant galaxies is that they are really, really, really, really bright, making them easy to see. Exoplanets meanwhile are all basically snuggled up real close (astronomically speaking) to their parent stars (really bright things) making them also easy to see.

Meanwhile, this new planet is about half the size of Neptune (which itself was discovered initially by its gravitational interaction with Uranus rather than direct observation), is located at about twenty times further from the sun than Neptune, and only detectable by light it reflects from Sol. It's like trying to find a black pebble in a darkened room whereas the other things you described is like looking for a floodlight pointing at you from a few miles away.

Yeah, ironically, it is easier to see distant objects than close by ones Well, exoplanets can't be seen, you can only deduce their existence by distortions of the radiation of their parent star. Same with this possible one. Can't be seen, but gravitation distortion tells there's some huge unknown mass there somewhere. And also the same with Dark Matter and Dark Energy, they can't be in any way observed, but they are known to exist from their effects on the universe.

Cold, dark planet with nothing but the endless cold darkness of space behind it? You'll find it when you hit it

Haha, "Orc Cloud". Made me chuckle




I don't believe we have ever seen an extra-solar planet. We know they exist from inference based on changed to luminosity of the host star and, more strongly, by the tell-tale wobble of the star as it revolves around the shared centre of mass between it and its planet.

PLUTO IS THE NINTH PLANET, STOP CHANGING THE DEFINITION OF THINGS

sorry...

I can see a movie in the works SOL Wars: The Revenge of Pluto

It hasn't been detected yet: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strong-evidence-suggests-a-super-earth-lies-beyond-pluto1/

Stupid auto correct.....

I don't think Charon is too happy about it either.

Not at all. Nyx is still crying about it in a corner.

Kanye.

You mean Gor?

We should name the planet "Goofy".

I heard the explanation of why they said they couldnt see it, one said it was like spotting a golf ball 40 or so kilometres away, hidden behind a dust cloud, now i understand those limiting factors, but it wasnt till i heard it was the same guy who declassed pluto that had made this claim, its very much like i have to prove im doing something, so ill come out with this theory, they may have detected a gravitational shift here and there, but this guy seems to want to prove something, anything and rather than creating media releases with theories, because theres been alot, again water on mars, no actual water, no chemical signs of water, just terrain features which could also be be dust drifts, you can see the same features from satellites in Australia, and its just channels of moving soil.

Rather it would be nice to see a media release, ninth planet found heres a blurry out of focus picture that could be a planet or the loch ness monster, but its better than every second day some guy wanting to get his name in the history books, has to come out with a there may be, possibly, sort of, could be the scarcest of chances, that something could be somewhere because some vague information leads us to believe something could be there, but its hard to prove but we are going to tell you anyway, it'd would be nice if they shut up did the work and tommorow i turn the news on and it say absolute proof that z and y exist, but then again if i dont say something i might not get funding to create another theory.

http://www.solarsystemscope.com/

This is an interactive solar system that uses actual data to map out our solar system. If you go to the settings (cog on the left) and activate dwarf planets and their orbits you can see that Haumea, Makemake and Eris all have stretched out orbits as compared to the inner set of planets whose orbits are more circular. This would suggest that something has drawn them out to be more elliptical in orbit. Theories have ranged for years from a dwarf star that orbits the Sun every few thousand years to a large planet.