New 9th planet in our solar system!!!

[Pinwheel (Doug)]

If it exist, this could explain the gravitational push that sends asteroids tumbling in every 10-20 thousand years. However this new data is only a mathematical prediction so it's not fact.

[alpal]

Originally Posted by Somnium

back of the envelope calculations (based on pure speculation and absolutely no evidence) puts it at around mag 20 ... +/- 20

You just wait - strongman Mike will pic it up one day!

[Chee]

Due to it's highly eccentric orbit, it will swing into the inner solar system, one day, it seems.
If it does, what will happen?
Theory about planet x has been doing the round for years but treated as hearsay and now, Caltech has thrown open the gauntlet!

[AussieTrooper (Ben)]

Originally Posted by Chee

Due to it's highly eccentric orbit, it will swing into the inner solar system, one day, it seems.
If it does, what will happen?
Theory about planet x has been doing the round for years but treated as hearsay and now, Caltech has thrown open the gauntlet!

Huh? The scale requried to make a sketch of its orbit leave's Neptune's orbit at a couple of pixels.

[AussieTrooper (Ben)]

Originally Posted by alpal

But Pluto is mag 15 & it's very small -

this new planet is say 10 times further away but much larger -
as large as Neptune.

I think an amateur may very well be able to get a little dot on their image.

With stacking, I've hit mag 23 on a good night. Given the slow movement, you could stack multiple nights and probably get down to 25 or so.
But the practical reality is that unless you had accurate co-ordinates, you'll never be able to scan enough of the sky to even have a remote chance of finding it. You'd have to wait for it to move between your minimum of 3 stacks, search it, then go on to your next search field. To cover a reasonable portion of its orbit would take decades. Even that is assuming it is close enough to the sun to put it within reach. If not, go wait 5000 years.
So in real terms, the chance of an amateur finding this thing is approximately zero.
If you still doubt that, amateurs discover asteroids at mag 20-22 on a regular basis. Even at that same magnitude, amateur discoveries of TNOs are very rare, and there are hundreds of those still undiscovered that an amateur could potentially image.
So you've got a needle in a galaxy sized haystack.

[alpal]

Originally Posted by AussieTrooper

With stacking, I've hit mag 23 on a good night. Given the slow movement, you could stack multiple nights and probably get down to 25 or so.
But the practical reality is that unless you had accurate co-ordinates, you'll never be able to scan enough of the sky to even have a remote chance of finding it. You'd have to wait for it to move between your minimum of 3 stacks, search it, then go on to your next search field. To cover a reasonable portion of its orbit would take decades. Even that is assuming it is close enough to the sun to put it within reach. If not, go wait 5000 years.
So in real terms, the chance of an amateur finding this thing is approximately zero.
If you still doubt that, amateurs discover asteroids at mag 20-22 on a regular basis. Even at that same magnitude, amateur discoveries of TNOs are very rare, and there are hundreds of those still undiscovered that an amateur could potentially image.
So you've got a needle in a galaxy sized haystack.

I sort of agree -

unless they find it & give us the RA & DEC we'll never see it.

[Somnium (Aidan)]

I agree that the chances of detection are about 1/ the age of the universe. Having said that, there is a huge legacy for the one who finds it. It might take 4 hours a sub but it is possible ...

[glend (Glen)]

There is so little light reaching out there that you will never have a hope of imaging it (IMHO), especially if it is a dark object. although if it has any sort of heat generation in the core it might show up on IR imaging. Inference based on the behavious of known objects is probably the best choice for the forseeable future. Of course if New Horizons could be retasked and sent along the inferred orbit there might be a chance to get some data, after all it's already out there. But you'd need to be pretty sure you know where it is before redirecting New Horizon, assuming it could be redirected with the available fuel.

[AussieTrooper (Ben)]

Originally Posted by glend

There is so little light out there that you will never have a hope of imaging it, especially if it is a dark object. Inference based on the behavious of known objects is probably the best choice for the forseeable future. Of course if New Horizons could be retasked and sent along the inferred orbit there might be a chance to get some data, after all it's already out there.

That's if by random chance new horizons is headed towards it. Until this hypothesised object has an exact known location, it's just as likely that new horizons is actually further away from it that the earth is.

[Chee]

Planet X has long been speculated, to be a brown dwarf.
Our sun twin, that did not quite make it.
The truth is out there somewhere and now, the race is on, to find it and have your name, institutions, etch into the history of astronomy.
But then again,. there is no concrete proof of its existence, just pure theory, speculative inference...blah, blah, blah!
Caltech has stick its reputation out this time.

[Regulus (Trevor)]

I agree John, this is very exciting, and I look forward to the results of the search. It would be fantastic to welcome another planet into the known Solar System. Especially another BIG one.

Trev