Skip to main content

IS THERE A TENTH PLANET?

IS THERE A TENTH PLANET?

It seems the Solar System may be a little more crowded than we thought: a planet around the size of Mars could be hidden among its outer fringes. A team from the University of Arizona has discovered
a mysterious mass, dubbed Planet Ten, that appears to be tugging at the orbits of a population of space rocks known as
the Kuiper Belt in the icy outskirts of the Solar System. The Kuiper Belt lies beyond the orbit of Neptune and
extends to a few hundred Astronomical Units (AU), with one AU representing the distance between Earth and the Sun. The Earth and the other major planets all orbit the Sun in roughly the same plane. However, Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs)
are far enough away from the gravitational attraction of the gas giants to be tilted away from this plane, and are affected by interactions with one another. This angle, known as the inclination, can be
calculated. If the observed angle differs from the one calculated, then it’s possible that the smaller KBOs are being pulled out of line by something more massive – potentially an undiscovered planet. This method is how the existence of the so-called Planet Nine was predicted last year. After analysing more than 600 objects in the Kuiper Belt, the researchers found a discrepancy
of 8° at around 50AU away from the Sun. “The most likely explanation for our results
is that there is some unseen mass,” said researcher Kat Volk. “According to our calculations, something as massive as Mars would be needed to cause the warp that we measured.” The researchers say we may not have directly
observed the planet because we haven’t yet searched the entire sky for distant objects in the Solar System. However, a chance may come in 2020 when the Large Synoptic Survey
Telescope (LSST) is completed. “We expect LSST to bring the number of observed KBOs from currently about 2,000
to 40,000,” researcher Renu Malhotra said. “There are a lot more KBOs out there – we just have not seen them yet. Some of them are too far and dim even for LSST to spot, but because the telescope will cover the sky much more comprehensively than current surveys, it should be able to detect this object, if it’s out there.”
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DO ALL FISH AND SHELLFISH CONTAIN MERCURY?

Mercury levels in the oceans have tripled since the Industrial Revolution, thanks to mining and the burning of fossil fuels. All sea creatures absorb some of this heavy metal directly, and, once it’s in the body, there’s no way of getting rid of it. The amount of mercury in fish varies between species. Long-lived predators like tuna and swordfish tend to contain the most, because they also absorb mercury from their prey and they’ve had a long time to accumulate it. The lowest levels are found in short-lived species lower down the food chain, such as oysters and shrimp.
Post a Comment
Read more

The top ten most coldest places in the world.

THE 10 COLDEST PLACES 01 Ridge near Dome Fuji antarctica –93.2°C recorded in August 2010 from a remote sensing satellite. 02 Vostok Station antarctica –89.2°C the lowest groundmonitored temperature, recorded on 21 July 1983 at a russian Antarctic research station. 03 dome Argus antarctica –82.5°C 04 Amundsenscott south pole station antarctica –82.5°C 05 Oymyakon russia –71.2°C the lowest air temperature recorded in the northern hemisphere was detected at this russian village in 1926. 06 Klinck research station greenland –69.4°C 07 north ice greenland –66°C this low was recorded at this British north Greenland expedition research station in 1954. 08 Snag Yukon, Canada –63°C 09 Denali Alaska, USA -59.7°C 10 Verkhoyansk russia –45.4°C
Post a Comment
Read more

the top 10 fastest road cars in the world

TEN FASTEST ROAD CARS 01 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport Top speed: 431km/h 2010–present despite having made its public debut back in 2010, all other road-legal cars continue to eat the Super Sport’s cinders. Powered by an eight-litre engine, the Bugatti is capable of accelerating from 0-60mph in just 2.4 seconds. This need for speed doesn’t come cheap, though. Prospective owners need to have a spare $2.5m in their back pocket. And then there’s those insurance premiums. 02 Hennessey Venom Gt Top speed: 428km/h 2012–present 03 Koenigsegg Agera R Top speed: 418km/h 2011–present 04 Ssc Ultimate Aero Top speed: 413km/h 2006–2013 05 9ff GT9-R Top speed: 413km/h 2007-2008 06 Saleen S7 Twin-turbo Top speed: 399km/h 2005–2009 07 Koenigsegg CCX Top speed: 394km/h 2006–2010 08 McLaren F1 Top speed: 386km/h 1992-1998 09 Zenvo st1 Top speed: 374km/h 2009–present 10 Pagani Huayra Top speed: 370km/h 2012–present
Post a Comment
Read more