reply to post by spikey
What if a brown dwarf, emitting light only in the IR range was as black as a planet recently discovered that absorbs almost all visible light?
It wouldn't reflect visible light then.
Brown dwarfs are not made of the same material as this planet you refer to. Brown dwarfs have a composition very similar to Jupiter. Brown dwarfs have
been photographed in the optical range and they will continue to be imaged.
As far as we should be seeing gravitational affects of a relatively nearby, virtually invisible failed star in our system by now, it could be
argued that we are seeing effects...Jupiter has recently baffled scientists by losing it's 300 year old 'great red spot' and one of it's thousands
of miles wide, major 'banding rings' that has always been there...astronomers and most mainstream scientists don't know what to make of it...and
are presently scratching their collective heads..theories will circulate naturally, but it's a surprise to say the least.
Jupiter has not lost its red spot. The cloud band has not always been there. It disappears often. It is believed that other clouds are obscuring the
band.
The types of effects you describe would not be what astronomers would notice. The positions of the planets would change. They haven't.
A brown dwarf would be visible in the optical spectrum well out over 2100AU. Whole sky surveys would easily pick out a new planet or brown dwarf.
