Possible Ninth Planet (NOT Pluto!)

[DimesDan]

Wow a frozen planet. That would be truly awesome if it's so. But it must be very far out to be dark and undetectable. I like the notion of an ice giant, frozen planet.

I didn't say anything about it being frozen, not one bit.

 

[{ Emilia }]

Wow a frozen planet. That would be truly awesome if it's so. But it must be very far out to be dark and undetectable. I like the notion of an ice giant, frozen planet.

Ice Giants aren't exactly a new thing. Uranus and Neptune are really sad you're ignoring them.

 

[Ronald Held]

It could be one of the gas giants ejected from the inner solar system, and through interactions with the gas disc and planetesimals, ended up 100s of AU from the Sun.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Ice Giants aren't exactly a new thing. Uranus and Neptune are really sad you're ignoring them.

I didn't know Uranus and Neptune fell into that category. So thank you

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I didn't know Uranus and Neptune fell into that category. So thank you

Ice giants is a bit of a misnomer really. Their H2O is mostly in a supercritical fluid state.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_giant

 

[Silvercrest]

Well, "Frost Giant" was taken.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Fair enough.

 

[SPCTRE]

revoke my planet status if old

 

[Doom Shepherd]

I hope it's there, I hope it's very large, and I hope it cuts across the orbits of other large bodies so the IAU is forced to revisit that ridiculous definition of "planet."

Given that (if it exists) it was found thanks to the fact that it affects the orbits of other bodies, thereby gravitationally dominating its orbital neighborhood, it would actually fit and confirm the "ridiculous definition" of planet.

 

[Green Shirt]

revoke my planet status if old

did Tyson draw this up?

 

[SPCTRE]

https://xkcd.com/1633/

 

[BK613]

Given that (if it exists) it was found thanks to the fact that it affects the orbits of other bodies, thereby gravitationally dominating its orbital neighborhood, it would actually fit and confirm the "ridiculous definition" of planet.

To clarify, I would find it satisfying if the size and orbital characteristics of the possible Planet X ends up breaking the definition.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Imagine the fun (or not) if it came close to Earth

 

[publiusr]

Ice giants is a bit of a misnomer really.

And now we have an actual rock giant: http://cosmoquest.org/forum/showthread.php?160076-Largest-Rocky-World-Found

What a monster. Call it Gorignak

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

And now we have an actual rock giant: http://cosmoquest.org/forum/showthread.php?160076-Largest-Rocky-World-Found

What a monster. Call it Gorignak

Interestingly, even with a mass 16 times that of Earth, if the radius is 4 times greater as estimated, the surface gravity will be about the same as that on Earth. The force due to gravity is proportional to mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the centre of mass.

ETA: Not sure I believe the figures in that article. This one has different figures:
http://beyondearthlyskies.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/bd20594b-is-neptune-sized-mega-earth.html
with a surface gravity three times that of Earth.