Will We Ever Find Our Missing Planet?

[Knight Templar]

I saw in Discover magazine that a new theory is that there was a fifth gas giant in our solar system billions of years ago but it was hurled from the system due to the influence of Jupiter long ago.

I was wondering what were the odds of rediscovering this "exiled" planet someday?

 

[RoJoHen]

Well, the first step would be figuring out which direction it went, and that seems damn near impossible to determine.

 

[Ronald Held]

There might be more than one, and finding it after ~5 billion years of travelling seems to be exceedingly difficult.

 

[throwback]

Someday, I think humans may find this rogue planet, if we do leave the system and chart interstellar space with probes and starships.

 

[Finn]

Would we know if it came from our star system?

 

[Gov Kodos]

It will have Cybermen on it.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Isotope composition analysis should be able to confirm whether a planet originated in our solar system. Some astronomers are on the look out for stars that were born in the same stellar nursery as our Sun, so the planets of a sister star might also have similar element ratios.

Analysis of long period comets suggests that a 1-4 Jupiter-mass body, possibly a brown dwarf, might orbit the Sun at about 0.5 ly.
http://www.solstation.com/stars/oort.htm#sol-b

 

[Scout101]

It's got a pretty good head start on us, seems unlikely we're gonna catch up, unless it was just poking along, or pulled over at a nearby sun...

 

[Wanderlust]

Nope. It could be on the other side of the galaxy for all we know. We would have to catalouge them all and even then there might be several that would fit the search parameters.

 

[Knight Templar]

What would be its likeliest velocity when it was cast out of the solar system?

 

[Saul]

It will have Cybermen on it.

Don't be silly....







It will have Cylons on it.

 

[throwback]

One estimate pegs the velocity of a typical rogue planet at 7 to 10 million miles per hour. A planet flung from the center of the galaxy is estimated to have a velocity of 30 million miles per hour.

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblo...s-escaping-milky-way-at-30-million-mph-1.html

 

[Unicron]

What about Pluto?

 

[Knight Templar]

What about Pluto?

Eventually, we'll be able to use mass drivers to regularize its orbit and thus make it a planet again as it will have a distinct orbit which it has cleared of other bodies.

 

[Davros]

Mondas will be back in it's own time.

 

[Finn]

What about Pluto?

Eventually, we'll be able to use mass drivers to regularize its orbit and thus make it a planet again as it will have a distinct orbit which it has cleared of other bodies.

What about its moons? They are so large compared to Pluto that they all have strong gravity pulls on each other.

 

[Knight Templar]

What about Pluto?

Eventually, we'll be able to use mass drivers to regularize its orbit and thus make it a planet again as it will have a distinct orbit which it has cleared of other bodies.

What about its moons? They are so large compared to Pluto that they all have strong gravity pulls on each other.

IIRC, only Charon is large compared to Pluto, and Charon is tiny overall.

Use mass drivers to move Charon closer and the center of mass between Charon and Pluto will be back under Pluto's surface so that no longer is an issue.

 

[Dac]

But I thought Charon was in fact a Mass relay....

Wait, am I mixing franchises? :S

 

[sojourner]

Mondas will be back in it's own time.

To paraphrase Bob Geldof, I don't like Mondas.

 

[Gov Kodos]

It will have Cybermen on it.

Don't be silly....







It will have Cylons on it.

Just like before?