Largest planet in the solar system could be about to be discovered

[Ichingcarpenter]

Largest planet in the solar system could be about to be discovered - and it's up to four times the size of Jupiter


Scientists believe they may have found a new planet in the far reaches of the solar system, up to four times the mass of Jupiter.
Its orbit would be thousands of times further from the Sun than the Earth's - which could explain why it has so far remained undiscovered.
Data which could prove the existence of Tyche, a gas giant in the outer Oort Cloud, is set to be released later this year - although some believe proof has already been garnered by Nasa with its pace telescope, Wise, and is waiting to be pored over.


it will mainly be made of hydrogen and helium, with an atmosphere like Jupiter's, with spots and rings and clouds, adding: 'You'd also expect it to have moons. All the outer planets have them.'
He believes the planet is so huge, it will ahve a raised temperature left from its formation that will make it far higher than others, such as Pluto, at -73C, as 'it takes an object this size a long time to cool off'.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1356748/Search-Tyche-believed-largest-planet-solar-system.html#ixzz1E3B4PZUN


Planet X.....

Short BBC video on the scientists who found it and the planet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90TWpYkMj0I&feature=related

[Rebubula]

1. Pretty cool

I love Astronomy and the never ending discovery process.

[Bill McBlueState]

2. it hasn't been found

It's just a couple of astronomers speculating that it *may* be found in data to be released over the next two years, that they themselves don't have access to.

Interesting, but scientists should wait until they have a peer-reviewed finding before running to the media.

edit: There is a peer-reviewed article; see my post downthread.

[Motown_Johnny]

5. they said they have 20 years of pictures of it, and that they started this in 2005

plus it's name has "2003" in it.


It sounds like they think they found it but they need confirmation from other scientists to formally announce it.

[Bill McBlueState]

11. where did you see "20 years of pictures"? n/t

[Motown_Johnny]

15. in the video at 2:27

and I didn't see it I heard it

[MilesColtrane]

14. The OP mentions two different objects.

2003 UB313 (also known as Eris) is a big, dirty ice ball 97 astronomical units away from the Sun.

The Daily Mail article refers to the hypothetical body, Tyche.

It is supposed to be a gas planet four times the size of Jupiter residing 15,000 astronomical units away from the Sun. (And, it has not been observed directly. The telescope data they refer to probably has to do with the behavior of comets in that area.)

[Motown_Johnny]

17. I was referring only to what was on the video

[MilesColtrane]

18. Yes, that object has been confirmed.

The object in the Daily Mail article is hypothetical.

[Javaman]

3. Personally, I welcome our new gigantic planet overlord. nt

[Ratty]

26. Ha! Somebody had to say it!

And it never gets old.

[Motown_Johnny]

4. this is seriously freaky

"A solid body covered in frozen natural gas" four times larger than Jupiter.

I hope it is true. If only for the entertainment value (but I doubt it will ever be classified as a planet).

[gratuitous]

6. Where are we going? Planet 10!

When are we going? Real soon!

Is Pluto still a planet? This whole gag might not work anymore for the astronomy geeks.

[Octafish]

Dr. Emilio Lazardo! Is that you calling?

[cteaghin]

25. Laugh while you can,

monkey boy.

[snooper2]

7. So THATS where all the gods have been hiding..

bought time we found some proof :)

[Thunderstruck]

8. After all the denials and derision over the possible existance of "Planet X" or even Nibiru,

little by little over the past few years, more and more has been trickling out from NASA and astronomers that would seem to confirm that there is indeed a large planet (or dead star?) out there inside our solar system.

[sibelian]

9. The comments are depressing.

I almost wish it wouldn't be discovered...

"oooh, they're releasing this information at a very IIIIINTERESTING time, aren't they? oooo"

[Lucian]

10. Again with the daily mail links.

Where's a link from space.com? Astronomy.com? Sky and Telescope.com?

[SidDithers]

21. +1...

the Daily Mail is bad, but their science reporting is the worst of the worst.

I half expect to see an article about Bat Boy living on Mars.

Sid

[muriel_volestrangler]

36. space.com: Astronomers Doubt Giant Planet 'Tyche' Exists in Our Solar System

The claim by John Matese and Daniel Whitmire of the University of Lousiana-Lafayette is not new: They have been making a case for Tyche since 1999, suggesting that the giant planet's presence in a far-flung region of solar system called the Oort cloud would explain the unusual orbital paths of some comets that originate there.
...
Though he hasn't read the latest version of Matese's and Whitmire's argument, Holman told Life's Little Mysteries, "Based on past papers that I've seen looking at where long-period comets came from in the sky, and finding signatures of large perturbers of the Oort cloud, I was not persuaded by the evidence."

Hal Levison, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., who recently authored a paper on the Oort cloud for Science Magazine, seconded that opinion.

"I haven't read this version of his paper, which he claims now has better statistics than the previous attempts, where he also claimed that he saw evidence of this object," Levison said. "But in previous papers, I really think he did his statistics wrong. Incredible claims require incredible proof and I really believe that he doesn't understand how to do this statistical analysis correctly."

http://www.space.com/10863-mystery-planet-tyche-debate.html

But an opinion when they've read the new paper would be better.

[CC]

12. Would that make it the

10th planet? Or the 9th? Have they made up their minds on Pluto yet?

I do find it interesting but I also think they need to be very sure what it is before they go telling the general public they found another planet. Seems people get upset when they try to re-designate what a large body in our solar system is.

[chowhound]

22. yes pluto has been demoted to dwarf planet..so...

technically its a planet but.....

[Warren DeMontague]

33. If Pluto is a planet, then we have something like 14 or more known planets.

There's no way you can call Pluto a planet and not call, for instance, Eris one, too.

The categorization of Pluto as a Dwarf Planet or Kuiper Belt Object makes much more sense.

[CC]

34. I was saying it with a laugh

while pointing out how people reacted to the change in Pluto's status. I never quite understood the anger over it.

[Warren DeMontague]

35. People grew up with this very over-simplified image of the solar system, I think

9 little balls going around the sun. The idea that it's more complicated than that upsets people, I think.

[Bill McBlueState]

13. Here's a link to the peer-reviewed article

PDF

Or go here if you hit a pay wall: PDF

Note that this is a theoretical argument using observations of cometary orbits.

[Lucian]

23. Thank you.

[Warren DeMontague]

16. Eris is still my personal favorite.

All Hail Discordia.

[Ignis]

29. How many tons of flax on that planet again?

[Rex]

19. So how many other huge gas giants hang out waywayway out there

in the solar system? I wonder how different everything would be if we would have ended up in a binary star system?

[Ichingcarpenter]

20. Gas Giant Planet called Rush

it even smells like shits

[deaniac21]

24. Planet Claire?

[SoCalDem]

27. Planet Pustule

on Rush's left buttcheek:)

[Odin2005]

28. Sounds more like a few crackpot astronomers looking for attention.

[Warren DeMontague]

30. Why?

The outer Oort cloud has been fully explored and mapped to your satisfaction, then? :rofl:

[Odin2005]

31. These claims happen every once in a while, so I am skeptical.

[Warren DeMontague]

32. I'd be interested to see what Mike Brown has to say on the matter.

I agree; skepticism should be the default position. Nevertheless, the solar system has gotten a LOT more interesting since I was a kid, so I'm also open to being surprised. I bet there's a lot more stuff out there we don't know about.