Ninth Planet? A decade ago Mike Brown helped get Pluto demoted from a “planet” to a mere “dwarf planet.” Now the astronomer and one of his CalTech colleagues may have plotted the orbit of a new ninth planet in our solar system, dramatically larger than Pluto and much, much farther away in the Kuiper Belt.
This new planet would be roughly 10 times the size of the Earth and would take as much as 20,000 years to make a single orbit around the sun. Its theoretical size — between the size of the Earth and Neptune — is unlike any other body in our solar system, but fits into the most common size of exoplanets detected in other systems.
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Jupiter Rising On January 27th watch the moon and Jupiter shine together throughout the night depending on where you live. Get those binoculars our or go by a cheap telescope. You won;t want to miss this!
Did You Know The Kuiper Belt is an elliptical plane in space spanning from 30 to 50 times Earth's distance from the sun, or 2.5 to 4.5 billion miles (4.5 to 7.4 billion kilometers). The belt is similar to the asteroid belt found between Mars and Jupiter, although the objects in the Kuiper Belt tend more to be icy rather than rocky.
The Kuiper Belt and its compatriot, the more distant and spherical Oort Cloud, contain the leftover remnants from the beginning of the solar system and can provide valuable insights into its birth.
Fun Fact Scientists estimate that thousands of bodies more than 62 miles (100 km) in diameter travel around the sun within this belt, along with trillions of smaller objects, many of which are short-period comets. The region also contains several dwarf planets, round worlds too large to be considered asteroids and yet not qualifying as planets because they’re too small, on an odd orbit, and don’t clear out the space around them the way the 8 (or possibly 9) planets do.
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What I’m Reading I downloaded a copy of David Power’s The Undead Road over the weekend and will start reading it this week. Released earlier this month the book already has fifteen top reviews and is holding a high Amazon ranking.
Synopsis Fifteen-year-old Jeremy Barnes would rather watch a zombie movie than shoot a real one, but he has no choice if his family wants to survive the end of the world. Their plan? Drive across the infected United States to a cabin in the Colorado Rockies without a scratch, but their trip takes a complicated detour in the middle of Nebraska when they find Kaylynn, a girl who can handle a baseball bat better than Jeremy can hold a .45 Beretta.
And when they stumble into a sanctuary, Jeremy soon learns that Kaylynn is stronger than she looks—a deadly secret lies inside her.
After the radio picks up a distress call from Kansas City about a possible cure, Jeremy’s parents go with a team to investigate. They never return. The only way to find their parents is for Jeremy and his sister Jewel to rely on a dangerous girl who might just turn on them at any moment.
Download a copy of The Undead Road by Clicking Here.
Question What do you think if our amazing solar system and all the amazing surprises yet to be discovered? Have you checked out David's cool zombie book?
So Jupiter Rising is more than a bad science fiction film?
ReplyDeleteThat's a really big planet they discovered.
I love reading about all the space news. It's so exciting.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to learning more.
ReplyDeleteIt's magical to see a planet with my bare eyes and even better through my telescope.
Sounds like an interesting read.
Congrats to David on his new book. That's so interesting about the new planet.
ReplyDeleteDavid did great with his promo. And he got a job with his previous employer. How cool is that!
DeleteI always chuckle when scientists discover something new that God created many years ago. Its neat though to read about. Cool plot with David's book, might have to put it on my to resd list.
ReplyDeleteBetty
Hi Stephen - it's good we're finding out more .. and let's hope the skies will be clear here - but I think your snow storm might be around then. Great to see David's book here .. I loved his Woven, so I'm sure this will be a great read.
ReplyDeleteCheers Hilary
I was very confused about the new planet, I'll admit. Seems they should have seen it before now, as massive as it is?
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, the elliptical orbit is such that I'm surprised we found it at all. We found it indirectly through it's gravitational pull on the objects around it.
Delete20,000 years to make a single orbit! Crikey that's a long time.
ReplyDeleteThe more we learn the more we don't know...
ReplyDeleteIt's so cool how we keep discovering new things in the solar system. There is still so much to learn. Good luck to David. I'm getting his book today.
ReplyDeleteThat's quite the find after all this time. Maybe a suitable base for interstellar travel in the future? Hey, that's my book! Thanks for sharing it today! :)
ReplyDeleteThey're never going to stop finding new stuff up there. I'm so in awe of all we don't know yet.
ReplyDeleteOne year that lasts 20,000 earth years? I guess a person's life span there would only be a few hours if they could survive the cold and all the other deadly stuff.
ReplyDeleteArlee Bird
Wrote By Rote
Space, truly is the final frontier. I feel excited every time we learn something new about the vast universe. How could something be so endless?
ReplyDeleteFascinating stuff. I am a bit of a star gazer, even though I know nothing about 'what's out there'. However, I appreciate and enjoy the sights. Thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is very into this stuff. It's all too scientific for me!
ReplyDeleteI was just reading about this other planet elsewhere. Fascinating stuff! (Oh, and I've got my copy of Dave's book. Here's to Zombie survival!)
ReplyDeleteFunny that the person who got Pluto demoted found the next planet. And a decade? Really? I didn't realize it had been that long. Yay for David!
ReplyDelete