Possible discovery of new solar system object

[Delta4Embassy]

http://phys.org/news/2015-12-discovery-large-outer-edges-solar.html

"(Phys.org)—Two separate teams of researchers (one from Mexico, the other Sweden), have incited skepticism among the astronomy community by posting papers on the preprint server arXiv each describing a different large object they observed in the outer edges of the solar system. Both teams made their observations after reviewing data from ALMA—a cluster of radio dishes in the Chilean mountains.

One of the objects was found to be near W Aquilae in the night sky—the other adjacent to Alpha Centauri . Both groups report being skeptical at first regarding a faint glow, but monitored what they had seen nonetheless—to their surprise they found that the objects appeared to move relative to the stars behind them, which suggested they might be relatively close and that they might be orbiting the sun. Neither group was able to gain much evidence regarding the properties of the objects they had spied, because both of them were only able to make two observations, but both teams suggest there was enough data to allow for ruling out the object being an ordinary star.

The Swedish team nick-named the object they observed Gna, after a Nordic God known for its swiftness, and have told the press they had no intention of suggesting they had found the mythical Planet X which supposedly lies somewhere beyond Pluto. Instead they suggest it might be a large asteroid. The team from Mexico went a little further suggesting that the object they observed might possibly turn out to be a brown dwarf.

There is also the possibility, as some astronomers who have read the two papers suggest, that either or both of the objects are merely illusions, random blips or noise that for a moment or two appeared to take the shape of a very far away object. Some have even tweeted their opinions, insinuating that jumping on the Planet X bandwagon would be sheer folly.

Despite the skepticism, it is likely that other research groups will be training their instruments on the piece of sky where the objects were possibly seen, to prove or disprove their existence and to put a stop to the conjecture. Both of the teams involved have voiced their support of such efforts, noting that they would like an explanation for what they observed. "


Been longrunning speculation than our solar system includes some object that regularly disturbs asteroids in the Ort cloud sending them further in to the system occasionally smacking into the Earth causing mass extinctions. This might be that.

 

[Old Rocks]

Interesting research, whatever the outcome.

 

[waltky]

Neat pics at source...

9 surprising facts about the solar system
Jan. 6, 2016 - A compilation of unexpected facts about the planets in our solar system.

1. Venus' average temperature could melt tin and lead

Despite being the second planet from the sun, Venus' atmospheric thickness and composition make its average temperature about 875 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about 75 degrees warmer than the highest temperature on Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.

2. Pluto is smaller than the United States

With a diameter of just over 1,475 miles, the dwarf planet is considerably smaller than the United States, where the greatest distance between two mainland points within contiguous states is 2,892 miles from Point Arena, Calif. to West Quoddy Head, Maine.

3. Saturn isn't the only planet with rings

All of the larger planets including Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus have rings, but they are difficult to see because of distance.

4. Jupiter is the solar system's garbage disposal

The largest planet of the solar system uses its powerful magnetic field to attract space debris and other dangerous objects into its orbit, thus shielding other planets.

5. Neptune's winds can be as fast as a jet fighter

 

[airplanemechanic]

I wonder what happened to the OP. His avatar picture vanished and he hasn't been on in over a month. I guess all of his threads about how wonderful sex with children was finally got him a knock on his door from the FBI.

 

[waltky]

What do ya call someone from Niku?...

Our Solar System Just Got Way More Interesting
August 13, 2016 - Neptune is the last stop when it comes to premier real estate in our Solar System. It's nearly 4.5 billion kilometers away and it takes 165 earth years for it to orbit the sun. Beyond it, things are, as astronomers now say, 'Trans-Neptunian.'

Out in the nether reaches of the solar system, astronomers are finding trans-Neptunian objects (TNO's) fairly routinely and some of them are decidedly odd. There's the still-hypothetical "planet nine," which is much larger than the earth and influencing the orbits of the other planetoids. There's our old friend Pluto, and other wonderfully named bits and bobs like Makemake, Haumea, Orcus and Sedna.

Niku has gone rogue

But admittedly there's plenty more to find, which makes the discovery of a new TNO named Niku all the more interesting because it's wandering around in a decidedly rebellous way. Evidence of Niku was released this week by a team of astronomers led by Ying-Tung Chen from Taiwan's Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics and published in the journal arXiv. The team discoverd Niku by digging into results from the The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 1 (PS1). According to the website, one of the major goals of the PS1 is to "discover and characterize Earth-approaching objects, both asteroids & comets, that might pose a danger to our planet." That's where Niku first showed up, in a recently completed survery of the Outer Solar System by PS1.

The Wandering Niku

The little object is special in a lot of ways. First of all, it's in retrograde. That means it's orbiting the sun in the opposite direction of most of the other stuff in our solar system. It also has a tremendously high inclination. What does that mean? Well, it helps to remember that our solar system is called 'coplanar.' All the planets revolve around the sun in the same basic two dimensional plane, like the rings around Saturn. A high inclination means an object is outside of this plane. In Niku's case, way outside the plane, moving in a "nearly polar orbit."

An artists rendition of the still unseen Planet Nine that lives beyond Neptune.​

But Niku isn't alone, and that's odd as well. The team has determined there's likely at least a small group of similar, high inclination, retrograde and non-retrograde little objects floating around in our solar system. But what the team wasn't able to determine is how they got there. Usually objects like this were pushed or kicked into their odd orbits when they got too close to the the gravitational pull of other objects.

A collection of some of the Trans-Neptunian Objects in the Solar System's outer reaches.​

But in the case of Niku and its buddies, the team ruled out all of the obvious candidates. That suggests either there's something else out there, or that there's something going on we don't understand. That's what makes it fun. So, stay tuned, we'll keep in touch with the scientists and let you know when they figure it out.

Our Solar System Just Got Way More Interesting

 

[SixFoot]

Some estimates put our Oort Cloud at a size in which our comets could regularly be colliding with Alpha Centauri's Oort Cloud(s) comets.

Perhaps comets that pass through our Solar System really do come from interstellar space like we once thought.