Mysterious 'Planet Nine' gets more evidence from weird space rock

I have a question if Planet 9 is out there , just how long is its orbit and how will it effect Earth once it gets back closer to us in it's orbit?

The solar system just got a bit stranger. As astronomers continue their ongoing quest to find the elusive Planet Nine, a team found a space rock that lends credence to the idea that a huge super-Earth planet really exists in the outer reaches of our solar system. The newfound asteroid, called 2015 BP519, adds to a growing body of evidence about little worlds in the solar system being perturbed by something big. Astronomers detailed its discovery and description in a new paper, adding that its bizarre angle of its orbit gives more weight to the idea that a big planet is out there — somewhere — tugging on the asteroid's path around the sun. "We also consider the long term orbital stability and evolutionary behavior within the context of the Planet Nine hypothesis, and find that 2015 BP519 adds to the circumstantial evidence for the existence of this proposed new member of the solar system," read the abstract of the paper, which is available now on preprint website Arxiv and has been submitted to The Astronomical Journal. [How Astronomers Could Actually See 'Planet Nine'] Following up on the discovery, Quanta Magazine recently published an articlesurveying several astrophysicists who specialize in studying small worlds, including the discoverers of 2015 BP519. While not everybody agreed that Planet Nine was responsible for the strange orbit, the overwhelming majority agreed the new discovery gives more credence to the idea. "The second you put Planet Nine in the simulations, not only can you form objects like this object, but you absolutely do," lead author Juliette Becker, a graduate student at the University of Michigan, told Quanta. (You can look at the object's orbit online here.) The solar system just got a bit stranger. As astronomers continue their ongoing quest to find the elusive Planet Nine, a team found a space rock that lends credence to the idea that a huge super-Earth planet really exists in the outer reaches of our solar system. The newfound asteroid, called 2015 BP519, adds to a growing body of evidence about little worlds in the solar system being perturbed by something big. Astronomers detailed its discovery and description in a new paper, adding that its bizarre angle of its orbit gives more weight to the idea that a big planet is out there — somewhere — tugging on the asteroid's path around the sun. "We also consider the long term orbital stability and evolutionary behavior within the context of the Planet Nine hypothesis, and find that 2015 BP519 adds to the circumstantial evidence for the existence of this proposed new member of the solar system," read the abstract of the paper, which is available now on preprint website Arxiv and has been submitted to The Astronomical Journal. [How Astronomers Could Actually See 'Planet Nine'] Following up on the discovery, Quanta Magazine recently published an articlesurveying several astrophysicists who specialize in studying small worlds, including the discoverers of 2015 BP519. While not everybody agreed that Planet Nine was responsible for the strange orbit, the overwhelming majority agreed the new discovery gives more credence to the idea. "The second you put Planet Nine in the simulations, not only can you form objects like this object, but you absolutely do," lead author Juliette Becker, a graduate student at the University of Michigan, told Quanta. (You can look at the object's orbit online here.)

Planet Nine CNN

a reply to: Gargoyle91

You're confusing planet 9 with Nibiru. They're not the same at all. Planet 9 orbits out around the Oort cloud and doesn't come into the inner system.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Gargoyle91

You're confusing planet 9 with Nibiru. They're not the same at all. Planet 9 orbits out around the Oort cloud and doesn't come into the inner system.

This shows they think it orbits the Sun Correct?

a reply to: Gargoyle91

As Zaphod58 mentioned, planet 9 is not even slightly rumoured to have an orbit which brings it massively closer to Earth than it is right now. It is not Niburu. It occupies the Orrt cloud, which perturbs some of the other Orrt cloud objects, which is currently the only reason we have any idea that it is there at all. Because of its current position in its orbit, when we try to look for it, the background is the very bright heart of the Milky Way. That spray of stars makes it hard to pick out the closer, darker objects, amongst the dots of light in the sky, even when using a big, powerful scope, such as are the normal operating gear of professional astronomy.

a reply to: Gargoyle91

Again, that image does not show an orbit within the inner system.

The orbit of this object never approaches the inner system, in the slightest bit. As far as I have been led to believe, it does not even get within Neptunes orbital pathway, leave alone Earths.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I always thought they were the same just under a different name. I used to believe there is a planet that if it came close enough to us it would cause destruction because of gravity and what not but then I did some research and realized that it would have happened in our written history. Since it has not I decided to put this one on the back burner.
But what would be the difference between Nibiru and planet 9?

a reply to: Zaphod58

Are you talking about a Dwarf star vs a planet?

a reply to: Gargoyle91

Yes it orbits the sun, but there's zero evidence it even comes within the orbit of Neptune, let alone into the inner system.

Well, here's ANOTHER clue...
ANOTHER very weird asteroid with potentially non-solar-system origin, has been identified, THIS one an excellent candidate for a fly-by probe in a decade or so. www.scientificamerican.com...

a reply to: Allaroundyou

No. It's believed there is another planet that orbits well outside of Neptune out near the Oort cloud. They're still looking for proof it's there though.

a reply to: JimOberg

Good post! I was reading about that the other day on another site. I doubt it is a planet or anything that large but cool. I really hope a mission is sent to inspect its origin but I am not going to hold my breath. But at the very least we can get a good idea of the composition of the object!

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Gargoyle91

Yes it orbits the sun, but there's zero evidence it even comes within the orbit of Neptune, let alone into the inner system.

There was 0 evidence that planet 9 even existed until a few years ago. So how can they possibly know it never comes close to us? They dont even know where it is?

a reply to: notsure1

Because a body that large is going to have gravitational effects on anything it gets near. That's how it pulls things into the solar system to begin with. If it came into in inner system then the planets wouldn't be in the orbits they're in, they would show evidence of disruption. There is no evidence of any large body moving through the inner system.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Can't we say the state of the current orbits are a result of it's last pass and attribute the Floods/Pangaea and other disasters to it's last pass ?

a reply to: Gargoyle91

It wouldn't cause the almost perfect orbits that we see with the other planets. It would have pulled them out of those orbits, not knocked them into them. The planet they're theorizing about is at least 4 times the size of the Earth, and 10 times its mass. If it had gotten near the earth or Mars it would have probably torn them apart, between its gravity and the sun's gravity.

originally posted by: Gargoyle91
a reply to: Zaphod58

Can't we say the state of the current orbits are a result of it's last pass and attribute the Floods/Pangaea and other disasters to it's last pass ?

No, because the orbit of the planets is not elliptical enough to have been tugged on by a large planet that comes close enough to have an effect.

Bodies with large enough gravitational effect on other planets would cause their orbits to become less circular and much more elliptical, not the other way around.

Planet 9's orbit would not come any closer than about 20 AUs out. That far out, it's gravity would have to be as strong as the sun's to have any real effect on the inner planets.

'Plan 9 From Planet 9 From Outer Space.'
I'm starting work on the screenplay today.
It will be the best "worst" movie ever.

a reply to: Gargoyle91


the calculated orbit for Planet Nine brings it no closer than almost 7 times farther out than Neptune. At its farthest distance, it is thought to be 40 times farther out than Neptune. So even at its closest (7 times farther than Neptune), it never really gets close enough to the inner solar system to have a direct meaningful gravitational effect on Earth.

Granted, it might have am indirect effect by perturbing Kuiper belt and Oort cloud objects (comets and such) enough that those objects are pushed into an orbit that brings them into the inner solar system, but Planet Nine itself would have virtually no perceptible gravitational effect on Earth.


In the image below, Planet Nine's calculated orbit is shown in red. The orbits of the know planets (plus Pluto) are too small in the image to be shown at this scale, so that portion of the solar system containing those known planets is enlarged to show them. Even enlarged, the smallest obit it shows is that of Jupiter; the size of the orbits of the inner planets are still too tiny to show.

As you can see, Planet Nine comes nowhere near Earth. If it (or the mythical Nibiru) did come close, we would have already noticed the presence of it because Earth's predicted orbit would not calculate out to what it is.


Image Source

a reply to: eriktheawful

Are you possibly talking about a red dwarf based on the unlikely pull it may have?

it got confusing two years ago but like Zaph said ......but there is this anomoly with the spin directions on jupiters moons and neptune spins at an angle

the moons....i read....numbers 8, 9 and 11 and 12 orbit backwards....idk i just read it.....the 12 moons i guess