Galt's Gulch

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  • Posted by ewv 7 years ago
    They already had a ninth planet but let it go.
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    • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years ago
      Yes, it seems that there are a lot of "objects" out there hanging around. So many, they cannot just pick "number 9" with any certainty, after they gave the boot to poor Pluto.
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      • Posted by lrshultis 7 years ago
        Actually, Pluto was not booted from the planet category. It, like other planets that were placed in subcategories such as rocky planets or gas giant planets, was placed in the subcategory of dwarf planet. There is just some political nonsense going on with some scientists who wish to mess up concepts on their way to collecting their next government paycheck.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 7 years ago
    It only proves that there is pretty much nothing that's impossible when it comes to studying either the smallness or the largeness of the universe. Anytime some big-brain pronounces that this, that, or the other cannot happen, it does.
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  • Posted by ProfChuck 7 years ago
    Is this somehow related to "Plan 9 from outer space"? Seriously, well more seriously anyway, these new discoveries reveal some of the gaps in the accretion theory of planetary formation. It also suggests that there may be vast amounts of previously undiscovered matter in the galaxy. I wonder, for example, how many "solar systems exist where the primary never accumulated enough mass to ignite a fusion reaction that makes it a star? Rogue planets may exist in far greater numbers than previously expected and could even alter the mass model of our and other galaxies.
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    • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years ago
      Exactly, and would change the whole idea of the need for Dark Matter to make up the difference.
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      • Posted by ProfChuck 7 years ago
        It poses an interesting problem. Such bodies will be very difficult to locate because their electromagnetic signature is so weak and is buried deeply in background noise. Like the hypothetical dark matter their only known observable property would be how their mass alters the paths of nearby objects and gravitational lensing. I am working on a project to measure very small deviations in the geodesic path taken by the earth as it orbits the sun. So far it reveals the gravitational fields of the major planets but extending its sensitivity to detect relatively small distant objects poses an interesting challenge. Nice project.
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        • Posted by $ nickursis 6 years, 12 months ago
          Interesting Prof, sounds like it also coud give some data on just how strong such influences are, and what their real effect is on objects of a certain mass, since you will have real hard data to use.
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          • Posted by ProfChuck 6 years, 12 months ago
            Yeah. the technique has many possibilities from detection of gravitational waves to the study of pulsar physics. Gravitational astronomy is a new and exciting field.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 7 years ago
    Nemesis may be a good name for the planet if it actually exists, since I noted it is surmised that it may be an out-casting threat to another object in the outer solar system.
    Lucky charms of prayed to Fortuna and Nemesis are carried by Marcus Falerius Fronto (usually just plain Fronto) a fictional Roman legionnaire and an officer/advisor of Julius Caesar in the Marius' Mules series of novels.
    The books are bought by my brother Joe, who is fascinated with the ancient Roman military (he even took Latin in high school). He hands me those books when done and and I send them to brother Steve in Delaware for Christmas presents.
    Fronto's wife is a handful; but should the household come under attack, she will do anything her expert warrior hubby tells her to do.
    https://www.goodreads.com/series/6369....
    Looks like I'll be receiving book #9 "Pax Gallica" next.
    Whoa! Planet #9 and my awaited book #9. Uncanny omens afoot! Fronto would think so.
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    • Posted by TheRealBill 7 years ago
      If a large additional planet with a long orbital period exists, I think we'd have to call it Nibiru for the entertainment value alone. :P
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      • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years ago
        Then you would have a whole cadre of ready made Nibiru fans. That is the whole basis of a lot of Ancient Astronaut supposition, that there is a rogue planet that sweeps in every few thousand years. At the rate they find stuff, not to far off base...
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