

Dwarf planet discovery hints at hidden world orbiting solar system - anigbrowl
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140326-dwarf-planet-2012-vp113-astronomy/

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cratermoon
Even Nat'l Geo in on the hype? The original article in Nature didn't mention
anything about another planet.

[http://www.nature.com/news/dwarf-planet-stretches-solar-
syst...](http://www.nature.com/news/dwarf-planet-stretches-solar-system-s-
edge-1.14921)

“It goes to show that there’s something we don’t know about our Solar System,
and it’s something important,” says co-discoverer Chad Trujillo, an astronomer
at Gemini Observatory in Hilo, Hawaii. “We’re starting to get a taste of
what’s out beyond what we consider the edge.”

~~~
anigbrowl
_" A rogue planet could have been ejected from our solar system and perturbed
their orbits," says astronomer Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for
Science in Washington, D.C., who coauthored the discovery report in the
journal Nature. "Definitely, it could still be out there."_

The journal article reports on what they know for a fact. Another planet on an
unusual orbit is speculation for now, so I'm not surprised they didn't mention
it - although I hope that as they gather more data they'll be able to infer
its location and see it block stars or somesuch, if it exists.

------
thangalin
More details:

[http://home.dtm.ciw.edu/users/sheppard/inner_oort_cloud/](http://home.dtm.ciw.edu/users/sheppard/inner_oort_cloud/)

[http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/display.cfm?News_ID=46852](http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/display.cfm?News_ID=46852)

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mcv
An inner Oort Cloud object? Interesting. And apparently Sedna is also an Oort
Cloud object? I did not know that. I thought it was a Kuiper Belt object.

------
randomflavor
NIBURU!

~~~
anigbrowl
I've always dismissed that as pseudoscientific nonsense, but it would be
amusing if fringe astronomers like Zechariah Sitchin turned out to be even
partially correct.

~~~
flipped_bit
I don't think it is too far off. Recently an exoplanet with a long elliptical
orbit was discovered:

[http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16501-elliptical-
orbit...](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16501-elliptical-orbit-gives-
exoplanet-a-regular-roasting.html#.UzO4vRZVjPM)

Also it could be a brown dwarf which are hard to detect but will be inline
with typical binary star systems observed elsewhere. It is hardly unlikely
that our own sun is an exception to the rule.

Not to mention, the 'nemesis' theory is speculated by some main-stream
astronomers.

