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Solar System might be 9 planets after all

So there is SOMETHING out there... Interesting. Could even be the wormhole that flung Voyager to the Machine planet. That need significant mass yes?
 
So there is SOMETHING out there... Interesting. Could even be the wormhole that flung Voyager to the Machine planet. That need significant mass yes?

No, there may be something out there. Well, there are probably hundreds if not thousands of Sedna, Eris and Makemake sized "somethings".

Right now, the evidence allows of the possibility of a bigfat something. We don't know its there.
 
Right now, the evidence allows of the possibility of a bigfat something. We don't know its there.

Indeed, while the article in the OP is pretty good some other articles on the subject around the interwebs aren't doing such a good job. Something might be there and if it is WISE may have already picked up data to corroborate it, but maybe it didn't and maybe there isn't anything in the first place. It's way to early to tell.

No, there’s no proof of a giant planet in the outer solar system
 
Pluto IS the 9th planet...and the other "dwarf" planets are planets too.

I don't give a f*&k about the pathetic definition which was made due to some vendetta against the pro Pluto crowd. If its round and orbits a star it is a planet, even if there are a million of them in our solar system.

Yes, I take the demotion of Pluto VERY personally, it was my favorite planet as a child and holds a sentimental place in my heart.
 
Pluto IS the 9th planet...and the other "dwarf" planets are planets too.

I don't give a f*&k about the pathetic definition which was made due to some vendetta against the pro Pluto crowd. If its round and orbits a star it is a planet, even if there are a million of them in our solar system.

Yes, I take the demotion of Pluto VERY personally, it was my favorite planet as a child and holds a sentimental place in my heart.

Woah....

[FONT=Tahoma]some vendetta against the pro Pluto crowd[/FONT]

Really? The IAU members were just sitting around thinking, "I FUCKING HATE PEOPLE WHO LIKE PLUTO! PLUTO IS THE WORST THING EVER! DAMN PLUTO LOVERS! LETS TAKE AWAY PLANET STATUS! THAT'LL LEARN 'EM!"

Pluto IS the 9th planet...and the other "dwarf" planets are planets too.

In that case, Pluto is at least the 10th planet.


If its round and orbits a star it is a planet, even if there are a million of them in our solar system.

No, a planet:


  1. is in orbit around the Sun,
  2. has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium, and
  3. has "cleared the neighbourhood" around its orbit.
That is how we now define the word "planet". I'm sorry if you don't like #3.

I don't hear too many people these days crying about Ceres, and a few years from now I doubt people will be crying about Pluto.
 
Actually yes, you say it in jest and may think I'm crazy, but I do believe that is what a faction of the IAU were thinking, they had in in for the Pluto lovers and were out to demote it for many years. They are human after all, and that was a very controversial vote.

And yeah, I think Ceres should be a planet too, that "clearing the neighborhood" thing is crap. Hell, Earth hasn't "cleared" the moon.
 
IT'S NIBIRU!!! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!

Seriously, nice find... beat me to it, as I just saw this on CNN's site.
 
No, a planet:


  1. is in orbit around the Sun,
  2. has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium, and
  3. has "cleared the neighbourhood" around its orbit.
That is how we now define the word "planet". I'm sorry if you don't like #3.
Then I suppose our solar system consists of two planets (Mercury and Venus) and a host of giant asteroids, since the presence of moons would rule out the "clearing of the neighborhood".

---------------
 
It seems people have a problem with the definition of "Clearing the Neighborhood". I hate to use Wiki as a source, but here it goes:
In the end stages of planet formation, a planet will have "cleared the neighbourhood" of its own orbital zone, meaning it has become gravitationally dominant, and there are no other bodies of comparable size other than its own satellites or those otherwise under its gravitational influence.
 
Indeed. Things are allowed to orbit Earth. It just means that nothing else shares the orbit of Earth.
 
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