Shaun sends in an article that we have all suspected for sometime, that the solar system may contain a large cold body well outside the orbit of Pluto. On Discovery Channel online says that Japanese scientists report calculations using computer simulations seem to indicate the possibility that a yet unknown, planet-class celestial body, measuring 30 percent to 70 percent of the Earth's mass, exists in the outer edges of the solar system. "Planet X" would have an oblong elliptical solar orbit and circle the sun every thousand years, with an estimated orbital radius of approximately 15 to 26 billion kilometers.
Shaun comes to an interesting conclusion that I feel is worthy of some discussion. "I'd put my money on a brown-dwarf companion to our sun, orbiting far out, which may have its own planets."
I have often thought that there was indications that Sol had a companion. I have often read that the Solar System as a whole behaves, as a whole, as if Sol was part of a binary pair. These recent research results seem to prove it out to some degree. Comments?
Shaun comes to an interesting conclusion that I feel is worthy of some discussion. "I'd put my money on a brown-dwarf companion to our sun, orbiting far out, which may have its own planets."
I have often thought that there was indications that Sol had a companion. I have often read that the Solar System as a whole behaves, as a whole, as if Sol was part of a binary pair. These recent research results seem to prove it out to some degree. Comments?
2 comments:
I agree with your points, Paul: A majority of stars in our galaxy are in binary systems, and a brown dwarf would be hard to find (if you weren't looking for it).
I think the binary hypotheses answers quite a few questions.
I play that hand close to my chest most of the time. You say binary pair to most people and they look at you like your demented. It just made so much sense when I first heard about the hypothesis quite a few years ago, then it was just gone. No one mentioned it after that. Which I thought so peculiar considering that so many observations seem to point in that direction.
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