Comments on: Is our solar system missing a planet?

By: Red Pill Junkie

Red Pill Junkie — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 17:49:00 +0000

>”We know a decent amount about the physical laws (like gravity) that govern the creation of planets and the formation of a solar system. ”

Oh, we do? Can you tell me then what Gravity is? as I was under the impression this is one of the most important mysteries modern Physics is still trying to answer ;)

By: Red Pill Junkie

Red Pill Junkie — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 17:47:00 +0000

More like Velikovsky, actually ;)

By: David Carlson

David Carlson — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 03:30:00 +0000

Instead of proving an ad hoc suggestion of a lost planet, this study by may be a coffin nail in the accretion model of planet formation and a back-handed affirmation of the competing gravitational-collapse model of planetesimal, planet and star formation, also known as gravitational instability (GI).

Stars are known to form predominantly in binary pairs by GI, and a recent hypothesis suggests that the ‘cold’ classical Kuiper belt binaries also formed by GI. (Nesvorny and Youdin, 2010) (The same David Nesvorny.)

Why should planets be any different? An alternative hypothesis unifies binary planetesimals and stars formed by GI with planets.

Planets may also form by GI as binary pairs, not in the circumbinary protoplanetary disk, but rather deep down in the binary stellar realm in horseshoe libration orbits around the L4, L3 and L5 Lagrangian points of the binary stellar pair. Then core-collapse perturbation causes the binary planets to spiral out while the close-binary stellar and planetary pairs spiral in.

The binary planets spiral in to merge and form solitary planets, and most binary stars likewise spiral in and merge to form luminous red novae (LRNe), like the hypothesized merger of the binary stellar pair that merged at 4.567 Ga to form our Sun, creating the short-lived radionuclides, calcium aluminum inclusions (CAIs) and chondrules of our early solar system.

Nesvorny, David, Youdin, Andrew N., Richardson, Derek C., (2010), Formation of Kuiper Belt Binaries by Gravitational Collapse, The Astronomical Journal 140 (2010) 785, doi:10.1088/0004-6256/140/3/785

By: Scott Bartlett

Scott Bartlett — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 02:32:00 +0000

Maybe the missing planet will turn up again on Friday…

By: Koncher

Koncher — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:32:00 +0000

Did they count Thea?

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 05:28:00 +0000

This is actually a thing in Mass Effect; there’s one solar system that has one planet, a rather large and hungry gas giant.

By: feetleet

feetleet — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 03:56:00 +0000

But you realize people are looking for a reason to drink themselves into self-prophecy this coming weekend, right?

And now, a completely unrelated post about volcanoes.

By: dagfooyo

dagfooyo — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 02:49:00 +0000

2006 Astronomers: “Pluto is not a planet”
2012 Astronomers: “Our solar system is missing a planet”
Well whose damn fault is that, eh?

By: Zachary Nelson

Zachary Nelson — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:49:00 +0000

I find it a bit sad that BoingBoing is “dark” as it were to the Electric Universe theories of cosmology. Something definitely worth looking into. http://www.holoscience.com/wp/

By: Guest

Guest — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:44:00 +0000

So you’re saying our atmosphere comes from Uranus?

By: Michael Smith

Michael Smith — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 21:30:00 +0000

We have been watching Jupiter eat other parts of the solar system for decades. I just wonder how much blowback would have been felt on Earth if a Neptune sized planet got eaten. Could its moons have escaped? Say it had a moon the size of Triton, could that be pluto?

By: Listener43

Listener43 — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:37:00 +0000

I notice that the diagram does not include Counter-Earth. Perhaps the Priest-Kings are at work in eliminating planets from our awareness, rather than from our solar system?

By: MarcVader

MarcVader — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:34:00 +0000

But these kinds of studies of course are not only concerned with our Solar System. These probabilities are fascinating and totally what science is all about. In generalisation lies the truth science has to offer, no? Our system may be an edge case, finding that it is, or isn’t is only part of the knowledge we can gain.

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:26:00 +0000

Nah, Darth Vader and his goddam Death Star again…

By: Maggie Koerth-Baker

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 19:54:00 +0000

That’s a totally reasonable question.

By: Jerril

Jerril — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 19:51:00 +0000

The thing that nibbles at me about these studies is the tendency to assume “well, the more probable thing must be the thing that happened”. 2.5% isn’t odds I’d want to hang my habitable planet on by any stretch, but it only needed to happen once, here, for it to be the “actual history”.

I’m not sure that at this point it’s anything more than interesting theorycrafting, and as mentioned I wouldn’t bet on 2.5%. But it does make me wonder if there’s just more variables we need in our models.

By: Ryan Lenethen

Ryan Lenethen — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 19:19:00 +0000

I think it is obvious what happened to the “ice giant”…

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/–sxoFOUdCts/T5QBJJrpm8I/AAAAAAAADKs/k6F8fuU8y5g/Jesus-and-Odin.jpg

By: bill_mcgonigle

bill_mcgonigle — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 19:07:00 +0000

Not sure if their model is expecting Neptune in its current orbit or not as part of the 2.5% chance. I thought it was well-accepted that Neptune may have formed inside of Jupiter’s orbit and got thrown out beyond Saturn later on.

By: liquidself

liquidself — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 19:04:00 +0000

Interesting. I’ve always been suspicious of the asteroid belts positioning, but then again – Jupiter IS sooo dense.

By: jrishel

jrishel — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 19:04:00 +0000

reminds me of this short fiction story, Cheapskates

By: mccrum

mccrum — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 19:00:00 +0000

What a relief to hear that the argument should be “is Pluto the 10th planet?”

By: Maggie Koerth-Baker

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:58:00 +0000

This is an entirely different thing than the idea that some mystical planet is going to turn back up and destroy Earth or raise our consciousness or whatever. Neither I, nor the researchers, are promoting that idea.

By: CLamb

CLamb — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:55:00 +0000

I’m confused. Is this Bush or Obama’s fault?

By: Dan Hibiki

Dan Hibiki — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:53:00 +0000

This is a complete load of crap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiVPb3WI1Ew

By: Ipo

Ipo — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:48:00 +0000

A shredded “ice giant” rich in icy matter just like Uranus and Neptune might explain the abundance of icy chunks in our solar system, still bombarding Earth and her siblings. Might have “caused” our atmosphere.

By: kgb

kgb — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:42:00 +0000

The vindication of Zecharia Sitchin.