A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the next 10 years

a reply to: Gothmog

He who shall not be named....

I feel like there is more to this story

Note that its also RETROgrade or coming in opposite of the force of gravity the sun maintains

something weird going on this

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

Sorry we have done multiple sky surveys it's very unlikely a large planet is out there. And in that same timeperiod, other astronomers have weighed in, arguing that the special eTNOs aren't so special after all. It could be that because of the way our surveys are designed and conducted, we're simply more likely to spot eTNOs with these funky orbits, and not any of their friends with more normal orbits. In other words, these eTNOs aren't shepherded by some mysterious entity in the outer solar system. There's simply nothing to explain — they only look different because we haven't finished looking yet.

What's more, it's hard to square the existence of a ninth planet with the formation of the solar system as we currently understand it. Astronomers can, of course, work to fold in a ninth planet (say, by arguing that it's an ejected failed core of a planet or a captured rogue exoplanet), but the more complicated the scenario gets, the harder it is to swallow.

a reply to: dug88

Reminds me of this old story


Possibly as Large as Jupiter; Mystery Heavenly Body Discovered
By Thomas O'Toole, Washington Post Staff Writer 

Friday, December 30, 1983 ; Page A1

A heavenly body possibly as large as the giant planet Jupiter and possibly so close to Earth that it would be part of this solar system has been found in the direction of the constellation Orion by an orbiting telescope aboard the U.S. infrared astronomical satellite.

So mysterious is the object that astronomers do not know if it is a planet, a giant comet, a nearby "protostar" that never got hot enough to become a star, a distant galaxy so young that it is still in the process of forming its first stars or a galaxy so shrouded in dust that none of the light cast by its stars ever gets through.

"All I can tell you is that we don't know what it is," Dr. Gerry Neugebauer, IRAS chief scientist for California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and director of the Palomar Observatory for the California Institute of Technology said in an interview.

The most fascinating explanation of this mystery body, which is so cold it casts no light and has never been seen by optical telescopes on Earth or in space, is that it is a giant gaseous planet, as large as Jupiter and as close to Earth as 50 billion miles. While that may seem like a great distance in earthbound terms, it is a stone's throw in cosmological terms, so close in fact that it would be the nearest heavenly body to Earth beyond the outermost planet Pluto.

"If it is really that close, it would be a part of our solar system," said Dr. James Houck of Cornell University's Center for Radio Physics and Space Research and a member of the IRAS science team. "If it is that close, I don't know how the world's planetary scientists would even begin to classify it."

The mystery body was seen twice by the infrared satellite as it scanned the northern sky from last January to November, when the satellite ran out of the super cold helium that allowed its telescope to see the coldest bodies in the heavens. The second observation took place six months after the first and suggested the mystery body had not moved from its spot in the sky near the western edge of the constellation Orion in that time.

"This suggests it's not a comet because a comet would not be as large as the one we've observed and a comet would probably have moved," Houck said. "A planet may have moved if it were as close as 50 billion miles but it could still be a more distant planet and not have moved in six months time.

Whatever it is, Houck said, the mystery body is so cold its temperature is no more than 40 degrees above "absolute" zero, which is 459 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. The telescope aboard IRAS is cooled so low and is so sensitive it can "see" objects in the heavens that are only 20 degrees above absolute zero.

When IRAS scientists first saw the mystery body and calculated that it could be as close as 50 billion miles, there was some speculation that it might be moving toward Earth. "It's not incoming mail," Cal Tech's Neugebauer said. "I want to douse that idea with as much cold water as I can."

yowusa.com...

originally posted by: ElectricUniverse
a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

My argument is with respect to very old arguments that no planet could have such huge orbits and that we have found them all. This proves we haven't and we still have much to learn. As for the size of this object? It is a "theory" that it is a dwarf sized object...

About 12 years ago astronomers were still speculating that the dense interstellar cloud, with over a million degree kelvin temperatures, that the Solar System could encounter was still about 10,000-50,000 years away from the Solar System. But in 2010 astronomers found that the dense interstellar cloud is much, much closer and we could be well within it in the next 80 years.

My argument is that we won't know for certain the size of this object until it is much closer.

You are right that we don't know everything about our solar system and that other planets might exist, such as Mike Brown's potential "Planet Nine" which has some evidence corroborating its possible existence -- although as dragonridr pointed out, the evidence used to support its existence also has alternative explanations that do not require the planet's existence.

Having said that, there are over 500,000 minor planets that have been cataloged and another 250,000 that have been found but not yet cataloged -- and probably millions more not yet found. This could simply be one of those million+ minor planets. Or (considering its orbit) maybe a comet, albeit a large one. Or a hybrid comet-asteroid. There is no reason to suspect it is Planet Nine or any other planet-sized object.

a reply to: dug88

Well.... there you go --> the kernal of truth which tells of a mythic NIBIRU, Planet X which returns to solar system in erratic cycles

the 'just discovered' new object, 2014 UN271, is much larger than a comet, so the fabric of the space in our outer solar system will reap a long period of chaos as orbits and comets are perturbed and bring new impacts to the inner solar system moons & planets

remember Sedna ? this proto planet was likely that tiny Ages ago

a reply to: dug88

almost in dwarf planet territory!

I don't think it's anywhere near dwarf planet territory but it is a big snowball.

I think plans are likely underway to send something out to have a closer look , perhaps even take a lick to see what it tastes like.

a reply to: gortex

Unfortunately I suspect that we don't yet have the ability to do this in this case.


CometInterceptor on Twitter

Posting apparently from the most likely group to try this explaining that it will be too far away at closest approach for it to be possible currently.

a reply to: Darkstar2

You're probably right but as it took the Cassini spacecraft 7 years from its launch in 97 to get to Saturn I think there is a time frame for NASA and ESA to get together to send and updated spacecraft out to get a closer look , granted it doesn't leave a lot of time to build and launch the probe but the path has already been laid by Cassini.

I live in hope.

a reply to: St Udio

further articles reveal the 'object' is most likely only 60-120 miles big

only more tracking will reveal the actual size (large comet. snowball accretion at present luminosity level)

once again a no-show for cosmic display, imho, as the comet will quickly disintegrate swiftly

a reply to: gortex

It would be nice but I doubt the conditions would be right.

Cassini did a fair amount of planetary billiards to get there - Venus twice, then Earth, and then Jupiter for gravity assists.

That sort of luck doesn't happen very often!