A killer planet is rapidly heading toward Earth

[lovuian]

http://nypost.com/video/a-killer-planet-is-rapidly-heading-towards-earth/amp/

Scientists believe they have discovered a planet, currently unnamed but being referred to as Planet 9. Unfortunately, this might not be great news, since the planet’s orbit might cause asteroids to come shooting at the Earth.

http://time.com/4184942/planet-9-new-pluto-solar-system/

Brown and Batygin concluded that Sedna and the other members of its flock must be herded by an as-yet-unobserved planet with about ten times the mass of Earth, circling the sun at an average distance 20 times greater than that of Neptune—making one orbit every 20,000 years.

[AxionExcel]

1. Nibiru

of course. Watch out - Marduk Baal Moloch Moolah (whatever) is coming to take names and kick booty.

[ladyVet]

40. Yep. Nibiru's coming!

I'm reading a book about this now. Very interesting. Good research for future stories.

[Visionary]

2. Let's get this party started

Good. I'm pretty bored lately. This aught to spice things up a bit.

[AxionExcel]

4. The Elite (R) have already started partying (and peeing on trees) without us smelly proles

[leveymg]

35. Smelly proles keep their fires lit. nt

[Katashi_itto]

3. Lars von Trier "Melancholia" - Ending scene

[B2G]

10. I loved that movie!! nt

[SoLeftIAmRight]

5. that gives us time to become an off planet species

we need to get to work

[Baobab]

6. We would be well advised to worry about solar flares, but not about this

Carrington class CME = high chance of causing massive global disruption, maybe 1 in 8 per decade..

Because of the ultimate health sink problem, (I.e. Fulushima) we should not build any more boiling water nuclear reactors.

[Bucky]

7. Planet 9 from Outer Space? Really?

Can't humanity even get killed off with some class?

[shenmue]

8. Yes

[denbot]

13. Thread win!

Well played Mr. Bucky.

[awoke_in_2003]

18. At least it's not a Dark Star. nt

[JackInGreen]

27. I came for this comment

I was not disappointed

[2naSalit]

32. Do we deserve to be snuffed out with class?

[L. Coyote]

34. You do realize all planets are from outer space

Actually, that's where they hang out.

I guess this refers to the outer solar system. But your comment is still funny, a planet from outer space...who knew.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Tabloid lies, distortion and nonsense in the first link

They've got the 'story' (about 6 sentences) about a wrong as it's possible to. The Time article is realistic. Let's deconstruct the New York Post crap:

"A killer planet is rapidly heading toward Earth"

No. It's not a 'killer', and it's not heading toward Earth. They think there is a planet which is between 200 and 1,200 times the distance of the Earth from the Sun. It orbits about once every 20,000 years, and never gets anywhere near the Earth.

"In January, a new planet was discovered at the edge of the Solar System"

Well, a prominent astronomer thinks all the evidence (ie the orbits of other Kuiper Belt objects) points to this planet. But no-one has detected it directly yet.

"Planet 9" takes 20,000 years to orbit the Sun"

Yay! They got a whole sentence right!

"When closest to us, it pushes asteroids and comets towards Earth"

Hmm. The other articles haven't claimed this; they've talked about how it affects the orbits of the Kuiper Belt objects, out beyond Neptune. If this were true, remember that it would happen once every 20,000 years ...

"Some scientists believe this is what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs"

which was 65 million years ago. There is no evidence at all that an event that has happened 3250 times since then was responsible for that.

"They also believe it's going happen again ..."

I think this is just made-up. They don't name the 'some scientists', and there's no evidence that the next time will be different from the 3249 times before that.

"as early as this month"

Again, made-up bullshit. No-one has seen this planet; no-one can say the closest approach will happen "as early as this month".

That's it, apart from an IRS joke. All in all, it's total bullshit.

[pinboy3niner]

11. Forget it...

"Forget it, Jake. It's the New York Post."

[Paulie]

25. We just let our buddy the janitor sweep up the garbage before we see most of it

Tran-sneptunian objects have to deal with him first.

[lovuian]

28. Kuiper Belt Objects Point The Way To Planet 9

http://www.universetoday.com/127800/could-planet-9-still-exist/

On January 20th, 2016, researchers Konstantin Batygin and Michael E. Brown of Caltech announced that they had found evidence that hinted at the existence of a massive planet at the edge of the Solar System. Based on mathematical modeling and computer simulations, they predicted that this planet would be a super-Earth, two to four times Earth’s size and 10 times as massive. They also estimated that, given its distance and highly elliptical orbit, it would take 10,000 – 20,000 years to orbit the Sun.

Since that time, many researchers have responded with their own studies about the possible existence of this mysterious “Planet 9”. One of the latest comes from the University of Arizona, where a research team from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory have indicated that the extreme eccentricity of distant Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) might indicate that they crossed paths with a massive planet in the past.

For some time now, it has been understood that there are a few known KBOs who’s dynamics are different than those of other belt objects. Whereas most are significantly controlled by the gravity of the gas giants planets in their current orbits (particularly Neptune), certain members of the scattered disk population of the Kuiper Belt have unusually closely-spaced orbits.

I love the picture in this article

[Fla_Democrat]

12. oh, planET 9. for a second I was worried.....

I thought it was just Plan 9 from Outter Space..... /whew.

[elljay]

26. That is a movie that never gets worse with repeated viewing

Perhaps because that is not possible.

[leveymg]

37. Angora sweaters never go out of style.

[elljay]

38. Nor does Tor Johnson

[retread]

14. Thought this was a Trump joke.

[AxionExcel]

15. Oh you did, did you?

[Kaleva]

17. We Americans are tired of being anal probed!

[awoke_in_2003]

19. Speak for yourself

[Kaleva]

16. Rec'd for the comments in this thread.

[lovuian]

24. Mysterious planet is to blame for mass extinctions of life on Earth, scientist claims

Mysterious planet is to blame for mass extinctions of life on Earth, scientist claims

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Mysterious-planet-is-to-blame-for-mass-extinctions-of-life-on-Earth-scientist-claims/articleshow/51620793.cms

mysterious, hidden planet that could be sitting on the edge of our solar system might be linked with periodic extinctions on Earth, according to a researcher.

The unconfirmed planet might trigger comet showers, bringing huge extinction events, according to a new paper by Daniel Whitmire, a retired astrophysics professor. The paper links the periodic extinction events that happen on Earth — which can be seen in the fossil record to wipe out huge parts of life on Earth about every 27 million years — with the unknown Planet 9.

[HuckleB]

20. We don't need no stinking space program!

Er, wait.

[Warren DeMontague]

21. If you can't trust shitty newspapers on science, who can you trust?

[Wounded Bear]

22. OK, now that's funny...

[lovuian]

23. Science Daily

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160407092944.htm

Planet 9 takes shape: Newfound planet in our outer solar system simulated

In their paper accepted by the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics the scientists conclude that a planet with the projected mass equal to 10 Earth masses has a present-day radius of 3.7 Earth radii. Its temperature is minus 226 degrees Celsius or 47 Kelvin. "This means that the planet's emission is dominated by the cooling of its core, otherwise the temperature would only be 10 Kelvin," explains Esther Linder: "Its intrinsic power is about 1000 times bigger than its absorbed power." Therefore, the reflected sunlight contributes only a minor part to the total radiation that could be detected. This also means that the planet is much brighter in the infrared than in the visual. "With our study candidate Planet 9 is now more than a simple point mass, it takes shape having physical properties," says Christoph Mordasini.

The researchers also checked if their results explain why planet 9 hasn't been detected by telescopes so far. They calculated the brightness of smaller and bigger planets on various orbits. They conclude that the sky surveys performed in the past had only a small chance to detect an object with a mass of 20 Earth masses or less, especially if it is near the farthest point of its orbit around the Sun. But NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer may have spotted a planet with a mass equal to 50 Earth masses or more. "This puts an interesting upper mass limit for the planet," Esther Linder explains. According to the scientists, future telescopes like the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope under construction near Cerro Tololo in Chile or dedicated surveys should be able to find or rule out candidate Planet 9. "That is an exciting perspective," says Christoph Mordasini.


It's a biggie

[sakabatou]

33. So, wait, is this a simulation they're talking about

Or a real live object?

[DJ13]

29. Yep

"

"

[oldandhappy]

30. I don't believe anything any more.

Am reading The Sky Is Not The Limit by Neil de Grasse Tyson. He talks about these kinds of stories. Good book. More autobiographical than I had realized when I picked it up. Recommend you request it at your library. Makes me dream of soaring thru the galaxy!!

[snooper2]

31. sweet, another test for evolution

either the bundy fuckers with stashes of food and weapons will live-

Or people with a good grasp on science and math

[Rex]

36. There are thousands of planetoids out there, is this new?

There is some big ass shit way, way out there. There, I scienced.

[pressbox69]

39. Like the amazing Criswell said in the movie, this story is true, based on sworn testimony.

Can you prove it didn't happen 20,000 years ago?