Have you all heard about this big planet that seems pretty likely to be way out beyond Neptune?
Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune
Apparently this putative planet explains a lot of weird observations. I like it. Hopefully someone will spot it soon — people are now looking, I gather.
Planet Nine is a good name, too. I hope it’s out there and I hope they keep the name. It’s evocative of Plan Nine From Outer Space, which is funny, and I like the idea of giving the ninth planet a meta kind of name, and I like that it starts with the same letter as “Pluto,” thus allowing us to complete the familiar mnemonic My Very Elegant Mother Just Sat Upon Nine ….
Published on January 21, 2016 09:40