Duck Dodgers in the 24½th century may have been onto something afterall...
Solar System might be 9 planets after all
- Thread starter JiNX-01
- Start date
I love the comment by McKay in Season 5 of Atlantis to that scientist "Did it make you feel like a big man making all those kids cry?"
Also, I don't suppose there's any chance either of the Voyagers will be able to see it one day? Or would that just be too convenient?
Also, I don't suppose there's any chance either of the Voyagers will be able to see it one day? Or would that just be too convenient?
Actually, it has, since the Moon is a satellite of Earth and not an orbitally independent body, and as such does not threaten Earth's place as the gravitationally dominant body in its orbital neighbourhood.
More seriously, I understand how "cleaning the neighbourhood" might be a bit controversial in its wording, and personally I would probably have preferred a more rigorous definition. But the bottom line is that Pluto does not fit with the other planets, as anyone who took a class in celestial mechanics would tell you. It belongs to a different category with Ceres, Eris, and others. The IAU decision was for the best.
Both Voyagers are now well beyond the orbit of Pluto, which, IIRC, was never in the right position for either to intercept anyway.
New Horizons is expected to pass by Pluto in 2015.
I think the "it" he was referring to was the new super giant planet, not Pluto. And to answer his question, yea, the odds that the Voyagers just happen to pass by this new planet are exceedingly, bleedingly small.
Would we even know? They're not sending back images any more. I guess whatever particle density information they're tracking would be changed be changed by proximity to a Supiter Jupiter.
But neither is on the plane of the solar system now. I would imagine a big boy like this would have to be.
I like this. It's better than Tyche.
What is Tyche anway? is that like a squished up version of Tycho Brahe?
I'm sure it must be a Greek God I don't know about. But the name makes me think of Tycho Brahe.
That reminds me, my little tyches are gonna be home for school soon!
Yeah, there would be a gravitational 'anomaly" there that would pull the craft off of its predicted course.
Actually, *isn't* there some aberration in the course of on of the Voyagers that's not yet been explained...? I seem to recall reading about that somewhere...
But the circumference of the orbit of this new planet is gonna be HUGE - so odds are small that any of our human-made probes will just *happen* to be close enough to image it...the planet could be on the other side of the Sun or something...
Last edited:
It was actually the Pioneer probes that had/have that gravitational anomaly which is called the Pioneer anomaly. I believe the probes launched since Pioneer rotate different or do some type of course correction so the gravitational pull isn't apparent.
There's been a ton of different theories as to why it happens, one of which as far back as the early 80s is a distant 10th planet (well now 9th planet RIP Pluto).
according to wikipedia Tyche is the deity that governs the prosperity and fortune of a city. what that has to do with a super gigantic planet, i have no idea.
What is Tyche anway? is that like a squished up version of Tycho Brahe?
I'm sure it must be a Greek God I don't know about. But the name makes me think of Tycho Brahe.
OK, that makes LOTS MORE SENSE!! than the wiki entry I found.I like the name Ghroth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsey_Campbell_deities#Ghroth
--only made of mirror matter and invisible except for its gravitational effects
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsey_Campbell_deities#Ghroth
--only made of mirror matter and invisible except for its gravitational effects
I agree that the demotion of Pluto is arbitrary. Frankly, it's not apparent to me why the term planet should categorize both small rocky worlds and giant gaseous ones, which have little more in common with each other than they do with miniature icy bodies in the Oort cloud.
The problem Pluto defenders have, and I have some sympathy with this view, is that basically a definitional issue revolving around semantics has been endowed with greater scientific value by the media and by media savvy astronomers than it deserves. In reality, the planet concept is like the species concept, and is open to debate. Moreover, it is of much less scientific significance than the definition of species, so there's less of a reason to be dogmatic about it, yet this is precisely what the anti-Pluto crowd has been.
The problem Pluto defenders have, and I have some sympathy with this view, is that basically a definitional issue revolving around semantics has been endowed with greater scientific value by the media and by media savvy astronomers than it deserves. In reality, the planet concept is like the species concept, and is open to debate. Moreover, it is of much less scientific significance than the definition of species, so there's less of a reason to be dogmatic about it, yet this is precisely what the anti-Pluto crowd has been.
Similar threads
