
Astronomers Find New Object, Possible Super-Earth in Our Solar System - alistairSH
http://www.forbes.com/sites/briankoberlein/2015/12/10/astronomers-find-new-object-possible-super-earth-in-our-solar-system/
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stargazer-3
Take it with a grain of salt. The reaction of the astronomer community is much
more skeptical than this article leads you to believe. The paper in question,
for instance, has been "withdrawn until further data is available" from arxiv.

There are many who think it can be an issue of data reduction - i.e. the
process that leads from the raw instrument data to a publication-grade result.

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ceejayoz
[http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/12/a-new-planet-in-the-
ou...](http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/12/a-new-planet-in-the-outer-solar-
system-not-so-fast)

> As Caltech astronomer Mike Brown pointed out via Twitter, "Fun fact: if it
> is true that ALMA accidentally discovered a massive outer solar system
> object in its tiny tiny tiny field of view, ... that would suggest that
> there are something like 200,000 earth sized planets in the outer solar
> system. Which, um, no."

> The far more likely possibility is that the astronomers captured one of the
> many icy objects floating beyond Pluto in the Kuiper Belt and the far-flung
> Oort Cloud. There are millions of such objects, ranging in size from less
> than a mile in diameter to almost 1,500 miles.

~~~
xlm1717
Mike Brown: Obvious attempt at snark is obvious.

No it wouldn't suggest there are 200,000 earth sized planets in the outer
solar system. Don't be absurd. The situation does seem reminiscent of how
Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto (accidentally discovered a massive (compared
to other nearby objects) outer solar system object in the Lowell Observatory
telescope's tiny tiny field of view, no computer help either), but while it is
possible that thousands of Kuiper Belt objects on the scale of Pluto exist
(we've only discovered three or four so far because they would be so difficult
to detect), hundreds of thousands of earth sized planets would have already
collapsed gravitationally. Don't be absurd.

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mc808
Another possibility (unless they've already ruled it out) is that it's a rogue
planet passing through the Oort cloud. I don't know if thousands of them are
any more plausible than thousands of gravitationally bound planets, but
supposedly rogues outnumber star-bound planets. They would be spread pretty
thin depth-wise and hard to detect.

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jefurii
Not an expert here, but Forbes doesn't seem like the go-to site for astronomy
news.

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JoeAltmaier
Makes you feel a little uneasy, finding something so large right in our
neighborhood. Like finding a cold campfire by your back fence.

~~~
alistairSH
Yeah, if it ends up being large. The other explanations seem more likely.
Either way, it does make me feel really small in the overall scheme of the
universe.

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dandelany
There's some great discussion about whether or not this is a real discovery on
the Unmanned Spaceflight forum:
[http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=8127&...](http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=8127&st=0)

Consensus seems to be similar to the superliminal neutrino claim a few years
back - probably not a real signal, but worth tracking down further on the
extreme off chance that it is.

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clavalle
Wow. A Nemesis star or Nibiru planet possibly?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(hypothetical_star)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_\(hypothetical_star\))

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm)

It would be exciting to have large bodies out further and further from our
planet. Like stepping stones to the stars.

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parshimers
I wonder how they found something so small and far out. It's almost like
something wanted us to discover it ;)

"Their main immediate abode is a still undiscovered and almost lightless
planet at the very edge of our solar system—beyond Neptune, and the ninth in
distance from the sun. It is, as we have inferred, the object mystically
hinted at as “Yuggoth” in certain ancient and forbidden writings; and it will
soon be the scene of a strange focussing of thought upon our world in an
effort to facilitate mental rapport. "

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ZenoArrow
Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't objects in 'our solar system' orbit
around our sun? Sounds like these objects are in the Alpha Centauri solar
system, which is one of our closest neighbours in the Milky Way galaxy. It'll
be an interesting find if it turns out to exist, but the distinction between
solar system and galaxy is important, as it changes it from somewhere we could
feasibly visit to an object we can only see through telescopes (bar some sort
of revolution in space propulsion).

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headShrinker
This might help

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLKtG6sy13o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLKtG6sy13o)

The solar system is bigger than pluto's orbit (a few light hours)... A lot
bigger.

Theoretically, the diameter could be as big as one light year in diameter.

