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Community => Science and Technology => Topic started by: Ultimate Paragon on January 20, 2016, 11:04:33 pm

Title: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: Ultimate Paragon on January 20, 2016, 11:04:33 pm
https://www.caltech.edu/news/caltech-researchers-find-evidence-real-ninth-planet-49523 (https://www.caltech.edu/news/caltech-researchers-find-evidence-real-ninth-planet-49523)

If it exists, I wonder what it'll be named.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: Tolpuddle Martyr on January 20, 2016, 11:35:18 pm
Not sure, but they aren't restricted to Greek mythology in naming celestial objects anymore so they can go nuts.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: mellenORL on January 21, 2016, 12:39:44 am
Nemesis. Because it might turn out to be the hypothetical high mass object of that name. Makes more sense than Nemesis being a "loose" dwarf star.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: Askold on January 21, 2016, 02:46:20 am
Nemesis. Because it might turn out to be the hypothetical high mass object of that name. Makes more sense than Nemesis being a "loose" dwarf star.
The theories I've seen so far suggest that it would be huge.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strong-evidence-suggests-a-super-earth-lies-beyond-pluto1/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/01/20/new-evidence-suggests-a-ninth-planet-lurking-at-the-edge-of-the-solar-system/

Makes you wonder what else might be hiding out there if something that big has gone unnoticed this long.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: RavynousHunter on January 21, 2016, 08:36:54 am
If its that far away, it might not only be difficult to see because of distance, but because its orbit takes so long that we might have only entered a properly viewable angle just now.  Also, I say we name it Odin, because Greek gods are lame.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: Svata on January 21, 2016, 08:44:16 am
Eh, he's already got a day if the week. Let's go with Baldur. Or, if ya wanna leave Europe entirely, howsabout Izanami.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: RavynousHunter on January 21, 2016, 09:30:15 am
Eh, he's already got a day if the week. Let's go with Baldur. Or, if ya wanna leave Europe entirely, howsabout Izanami.

You know people would call it Jizzanami.  How about Teal'c?
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: Ultimate Paragon on January 21, 2016, 11:07:09 am
If its that far away, it might not only be difficult to see because of distance, but because its orbit takes so long that we might have only entered a properly viewable angle just now.  Also, I say we name it Odin, because Greek gods are lame.

Roman, actually.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: RavynousHunter on January 21, 2016, 11:13:50 am
Greco-Roman, if you wanna be really precise, since they pretty much have the same gods, but with different names.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: Ultimate Paragon on January 21, 2016, 11:36:17 am
Greco-Roman, if you wanna be really precise, since they pretty much have the same gods, but with different names.

Not exactly.  The Romans had numerous gods with no Greek equivalent.  And for those gods who did parallel, there were sometimes distinct differences.  For example, Mars is a much more positive figure than Ares.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: Svata on January 21, 2016, 01:08:46 pm
Greco-Roman, if you wanna be really precise, since they pretty much have the same gods, but with different names.

Not exactly.  The Romans had numerous gods with no Greek equivalent.  And for those gods who did parallel, there were sometimes distinct differences.  For example, Mars is a much more positive figure than Ares.


True, but the differences are small enough that you inow what someone means when they get it wrong.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: Even Then on January 21, 2016, 03:16:16 pm
Quote
Makes you wonder what else might be hiding out there if something that big has gone unnoticed this long.

Thanks, I hadn't received my dose of existentialist terror yet.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: Askold on January 21, 2016, 03:22:04 pm
Quote
Makes you wonder what else might be hiding out there if something that big has gone unnoticed this long.

Thanks, I hadn't received my dose of existentialist terror yet.
Oh I'm almost certain that there are no Orange One-eyed, One-horned
Flying, People Eaters out there, so there is no need to worry.

This is a bit concerning though:
(http://i.imgur.com/FOQBg8o.jpg)
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: Even Then on January 21, 2016, 03:29:10 pm
It's more along the lines of "a cosmic event could fuck with the Sun at any moment and kill us all" terror.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: RavynousHunter on January 21, 2016, 03:36:28 pm
Eeh, taking out the Sun would require titanic amounts of power, and something like that would put out some serious radiation that we'd pick up very easily.  Might not be able to do anything about it, but we'd have a lot of advance warning.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: Askold on January 21, 2016, 03:39:40 pm
Unless a rogue black hole eats up the sun. Or Earth.

One scientist did claim that a black hole flying through Earth wouldn't do much damage as it would go through before it had enough time to swallow much of the planet. Not sure on the math on that since I don't know how we would know how fast Earth and the black hole would be moving, relative to each other.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: Tolpuddle Martyr on January 21, 2016, 04:08:02 pm
Don't really small black holes have a really short lifespan. Recall reading something about Hawking radiation that I'm not clever enough to understand.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: Art Vandelay on January 21, 2016, 04:17:07 pm
Black holes aren't cosmic vacuum cleaners, they're subject to gravity and orbital mechanics just like any other celestial body. They only way in which they'll suck up a star or planet is if the black hole passes close enough that the snack in question ends up below the event horizon (functionally speaking, a collision course). Otherwise, it'll just slingshot straight by like anything else.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: RavynousHunter on January 21, 2016, 04:29:32 pm
Unless a rogue black hole eats up the sun. Or Earth.

One scientist did claim that a black hole flying through Earth wouldn't do much damage as it would go through before it had enough time to swallow much of the planet. Not sure on the math on that since I don't know how we would know how fast Earth and the black hole would be moving, relative to each other.

Nope, we'd have centuries of advanced warning, at least.  Black holes output gigantic amounts of radiation, especially x-rays and gamma rays, which we can detect very easily.  Even if it were traveling at the speed of light, the mass of radiation coming from it would be far ahead of the event horizon, so we'd see it coming a long time before it could do us any appreciable damage.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: Askold on January 21, 2016, 04:32:35 pm
Unless a rogue black hole eats up the sun. Or Earth.

One scientist did claim that a black hole flying through Earth wouldn't do much damage as it would go through before it had enough time to swallow much of the planet. Not sure on the math on that since I don't know how we would know how fast Earth and the black hole would be moving, relative to each other.

Nope, we'd have centuries of advanced warning, at least.  Black holes output gigantic amounts of radiation, especially x-rays and gamma rays, which we can detect very easily.  Even if it were traveling at the speed of light, the mass of radiation coming from it would be far ahead of the event horizon, so we'd see it coming a long time before it could do us any appreciable damage.

...So we would know what is going to kill us but we wouldn't have a way to prevent it?
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: dpareja on January 21, 2016, 05:02:48 pm
Unless a rogue black hole eats up the sun. Or Earth.

One scientist did claim that a black hole flying through Earth wouldn't do much damage as it would go through before it had enough time to swallow much of the planet. Not sure on the math on that since I don't know how we would know how fast Earth and the black hole would be moving, relative to each other.

Nope, we'd have centuries of advanced warning, at least.  Black holes output gigantic amounts of radiation, especially x-rays and gamma rays, which we can detect very easily.  Even if it were traveling at the speed of light, the mass of radiation coming from it would be far ahead of the event horizon, so we'd see it coming a long time before it could do us any appreciable damage.

...So we would know what is going to kill us but we wouldn't have a way to prevent it?

We'd have centuries to develop ways to prevent (or avoid) it.
Title: Re: A Ninth Planet?
Post by: RavynousHunter on January 21, 2016, 06:33:55 pm
Unless a rogue black hole eats up the sun. Or Earth.

One scientist did claim that a black hole flying through Earth wouldn't do much damage as it would go through before it had enough time to swallow much of the planet. Not sure on the math on that since I don't know how we would know how fast Earth and the black hole would be moving, relative to each other.

Nope, we'd have centuries of advanced warning, at least.  Black holes output gigantic amounts of radiation, especially x-rays and gamma rays, which we can detect very easily.  Even if it were traveling at the speed of light, the mass of radiation coming from it would be far ahead of the event horizon, so we'd see it coming a long time before it could do us any appreciable damage.

...So we would know what is going to kill us but we wouldn't have a way to prevent it?

We'd have centuries to develop ways to prevent (or avoid) it.


Bingolio.  Since we'd see it coming, we'd direct all our efforts to stopping it, and even a single century is a LONG time in the world of science.