X-Planets ( extrasolar planets, and the various planets X )

Our Tiny Little Minds ^ | various | self et al

[SunkenCiv]

New Scientist for Dec 14, 2002, had a cover story for Planet X:

The Hunt for Planet X
by Heather Couper
and Nigel Henbest

Just over a year after the New Horizons' launch, it will... pick up enough velocity to reach Pluto, possibly as early as July 2015... In their new research, Melita and Brunini have explored three possible reasons for the Kuiper Cliff... The third possibility is that the region beyond was brushed clear by the gravity of Planet X... the KBO orbits they have investigated so far fit in best with the influence of a Planet X.

[SunkenCiv]

Brilliant! Tenth planet turns out to be a shiner
Science News | April 15, 2006 | Ron Cowen
Posted on 4/19/2006 7:50:42 PM EDT by neverdem
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1617951/posts

[SunkenCiv]

Researchers explain gas planet satellite systems
Southwest Research Institute
June 14, 2006

Jupiter's four Galilean satellites are each roughly similar in size, while Saturn has one large satellite together with numerous much smaller satellites. Even so, the total mass in both satellite systems is about a hundredth of one percent (0.0001) of the respective planet's mass. The Uranian satellite system structure is similar to that of Jupiter, and it also exhibits the same mass ratio. In contrast, the large satellites of solid planets contain much larger fractions of their planet's masses, with the Moon containing 1 percent (0.01) of the Earth's mass, and Pluto's satellite, Charon, containing more than 10 percent (0.1) of its mass.

[annie laurie]

Hehe :)

I have to admit that 007 has a certain panache, but I think I'll stick with 001. Then, when the list eventually grows to rival GGG, I can say, "ah, I remember the days ... " ;-)

[garbageseeker]

Ping

[SunkenCiv]

At the time, it was dubbed the Millennium Planet

No light from nearby planet
Dr David Whitehouse
Wednesday, 16 August, 2000

The team at St Andrews University caused a sensation last year when they reported that they had detected light reflected off a planet outside our Solar System - a so-called exoplanet. But one of the scientists, Dr Andrew Collier-Cameron, has revealed that "by sheer bad luck" they had been misled by "random noise" in the data they had been studying. The story centred on the star Tau Boo, around which a Jupiter-class planet is known to orbit. Detecting light from such a planet would have been a breakthrough. Astronomers hoped to analyse the light, deduce the planet's properties, and possibly look for evidence of life...The largest exoplanets circling nearby stars might just be within the vision of the Hubble Space Telescope but their close proximity to bright parent suns makes detection virtually impossible - they are lost in the light.

[SunkenCiv]

just added this one:

Planets in all the wrong places
The Christian Science Monitor | 03/06/06 | Michelle Thaller
Posted on 03/06/2006 8:16:39 PM EST by KevinDavis
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1591313/posts

[SunkenCiv]

Planets in all the wrong places
by Michelle Thaller
March 6, 2006

But now, after a good several years of planet-hunting and close to 200 extrasolar planets found, it's time we took a hard look at our assumptions about how planets form. Yes, we have found systems with massive planets in orbits similar to our outer planets, and for the time being, our telescopes are still not good enough to detect the wobble caused by relatively puny Earth-like planets tugging on their stars. But we are also finding planetary systems in places we never thought they would exist, and it's looking like our ideas about planet formation will need some revamping.

[SunkenCiv]

X-Planets is a catch-all, to include extrasolar planets (by far the most common), but also Planets X (previously unknown, hypothetical, or essentially fictional planets in orbit around our Sun) and exploding planets (such as the EPH of TVF).

Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (1953): Daffy plays Duck Dodgers in this great science fiction spoof, with Porky as his eager (and much smarter) first mate. Daffy must set out to find Planet X and recover the coveted "shaving cream atom." According to Daffy, they will begin their journey by going "30,600 miles due 'up'." Porky suggests they simply follow the planets in alphabetical order. Marvin the Martian makes an appearance in this cartoon, as well, and there's plenty of great pseudo-scientific gadgets, such as Daffy's "Ultimatum Dispatcher " that fires a bullet that unfurls a sign reading, "Surrender, or be blown into 17,670,002 micro cells." Of course, this leaves Marvin no choice but to use his "Ultimatum Answerer" which fires a bullet that simply shoots Daffy in the face.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/06/04/the-five-daffy-ducks-greatest-moments/

[SunkenCiv]

regarding UB 313, "Lila" or "Xena", the 10th planet:

http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/
http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/moon/index.html
http://www.2003-ub313.info/
http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~bertoldi/ub313/
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/orbits/2003ub313.html

[SunkenCiv]

This is dated Thursday, but it appears to be the same old same old.

Pluto’s Planethood Will Be Decided Shortly
June 22nd, 2006
http://www.universetoday.com/2006/06/22/plutos-planethood-will-be-decided-shortly/

Pluto has been considered a planet since its discovery, but this position has come under threat with the discovery of 2003 UB313 (aka Xena), an object larger than Pluto orbiting out further in the Solar System. The International Astronomical Union will be meeting in August to decide on the fate of Pluto. By September, we could have 8 or 10 planets in the Solar System, but there won’t be 9 any more.

At its conference this August, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) will make a decision that could see Pluto lose its status as a planet.

For the first time, the organisation will be officially defining the word “planet”, and it is causing much debate in the world of astronomy.

There is only one thing that everyone seems to agree on: there are no longer nine planets in the Solar System.

The debate has been brought to a head by the discovery of a potential 10th planet, temporarily named 2003 UB313 in January 2005. This new candidate planet is bigger than Pluto.

The question now facing the IAU is whether to make this new discovery a planet.

Pluto is an unusual planet as it is made predominantly of ice and is smaller even than the Earth’s Moon.

There is a group of astronomers that are arguing for an eight-planet Solar System, with neither Pluto or 2003 UB313 making the grade as a planet; but a number of astronomers are arguing for a more specific definition of a planet.

One of these; Kuiper Belt researcher Dr Marc Buie, of the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, has come up with a clear planetary definition he would like to see the IAU adopt.

I believe the definition of planet should be as simple as possible, so I’ve come up with two criteria,” he said.

“One is that it can’t be big enough to burn its own matter - that’s what a star does. On the small end, I think the boundary between a planet and not a planet should be, is the gravity of the object stronger than the strength of the material of the object? That’s a fancy way of saying is it round?”

This definition could lead to our Solar System having as many as 20 planets, including Pluto, 2003 UB313, and many objects that were previously classified as moons or asteroids.

One possible resolution to the debate is for new categories of planet to be introduced. Mercury, Venus, the Earth and Mars would be “rocky planets”. The gas-giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune would be a second category.

Whatever the outcome of this debate there is only one thing that we can be certain of; by September 2006 there will no longer be just nine planets in our Solar System.

[MHGinTN]

Holy Mackerel, what a list! It's gonna take me a month of Sundays to get through all those articles. But I'm gonna jump right in ... after the WC is over.

[SunkenCiv]

The WC? Worange County? ;')

[MHGinTN]

World Cup ... soccer/football

[SunkenCiv]

Minor Planets Stick Together
by Selby Cull
June 23, 2006

In January 2006, astronomers focused the Hubble Space Telescope on an icy rock near the orbit of Uranus — and found twins. The object, known as 2002 CR46, turned out to be a binary: a minor planet the size of Rhode Island orbiting another the size of Connecticut at a distance of 1,300 kilometers (800 miles)... Many main-belt asteroids and Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) are binary, but 2002 CR46 is the first known binary Centaur... The sticking power of 2002 CR46 hints at the existence of binary comets. Most short-period comets begin as KBOs, transition to Centaurs, then are kicked into the inner solar system by giant planets. And if binary Centaurs can survive multiple close encounters with these behemoths, they might also survive the final leap to become binary comets... In an upcoming paper in Icarus, Noll’s team will report on 2002 CR46 and a second binary Centaur — 2003 FX128 — bringing the total number of known double minor-planets to almost 100. No longer statistically unlikely anomalies, binaries now seem to be a natural outcome for all kinds of minor planets.

[SunkenCiv]

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Hubble imaged the first binary Centaur, 2002 CR46, last January. Though it routinely crosses paths with the giant planets, the pair has somehow stuck together. Courtesy Keith Noll / Space Telescope Science Institute.

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[Knitting A Conundrum]

You really need to ping me for stuff like this. I love it as much as GGG stuff....

[SunkenCiv]

Welcome, you're the third official member. ;')

[SunkenCiv]

BTW, did you want me to ping you to stuff like this? I doubt that it will result in a ping a day (maybe two a week on average).

[Knitting A Conundrum]

ping lists start small...then they grow.

[SunkenCiv]

Heh... I'm in no rush... I've got, hmm, three lists, having inherited the GGG list, which is pretty good sized (adding together the indiv list with the weekly digest ping), and which has the great virtue of having been started, handled, and supported by some of the best folks one could ever hope to find on the 'net.

I've started a few different 'blogs here on FR, mostly to keep track of certain subjects with pointers to related topics. I've got a "stop Hillary" 'blog, this one, a cold fusion 'blog (which isn't going to derive a ping list, because I don't have that much interest), hmm, three or four others.

FR is like the crackling fire in the hearth on a dark night.