Giant Stealth Planet May Explain Rain of Comets from Solar System's Edge

Space.com ^ | 12/01/2010 | Space.com

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

Our sun may have a companion that disturbs comets from the edge of the solar system — a giant planet with up to four times the mass of Jupiter, researchers suggest.

A NASA space telescope launched last year may soon detect such a stealth companion to our sun, if it actually exists, in the distant icy realm of the comet-birthing Oort cloud, which surrounds our solar system with billions of icy objects.

The potential jumbo Jupiter would likely be a world so frigid it is difficult to spot, researchers said. It could be found up to 30,000 astronomical units from the sun. One AU is the distance between the Earth and the sun, about 93 million miles (150 million km).

[freedumb2003]

gore was right — global warming is now having an effect on a COSMIC scale!

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

They suggest that during its orbit, this red dwarf or brown dwarf star would regularly enter the Oort cloud, jostling the orbits of many comets there and causing some to fall toward Earth. That would provide an explanation for what seems to be a cycle of mass extinctions here.

Hmmmm...

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[muawiyah]

Oh, yes, and once upon a time the Giant Red Dwarf kicked over the Oort Cloud pummeling Earth with comets. And all the dinosaurs died.

[ClearCase_guy]

I was sad that day.

[Errant]

And surprisingly, its due to transit the inner solar system around 2012.

[Errant]

And surprisingly, its due to transit the inner solar system around 2012.

[MAexile]

It sounds vaguely mythological.
“Long ago, before your great grandmothers time, there was another sun, a dark sun. When it came close, death fell from the sky. The dark sun left, but one day, it will return...”

[KoRn]

Seems we here about this thing about once or twice a year.

Very fascinating topic, even though there is no evidence of such an object.

[JRios1968]

Bush’s Fault, of course.

[GeronL]

Nemesis??

[wally_bert]

Mondas? The homeworld of the orignal cybermen.

[catfish1957]

Now wait a minute. We are finding planets several light years away, but can not find one on the edge of our own solar system? That makes no sense what so ever.

[DBrow]

Nemesis, yes, I think so.

There was a study many years ago that back-tracked certain comets back to where Nemesis was supposed to have passed.

I’m gonna need pictures or a good radar ping, though, evidence so far is conjectural.

[GeronL]

I agree. Pure speculation.

[muawiyah]

There’s no nearby star whose “wiggles” can be detected.

[Ransomed]

I could swear I’ve read this as a scifi plot. Maybe Fred Hoyle.

Freegards

[FlingWingFlyer]

Zecharia Sitchin’s Nibiru?

[DesertRhino]

Art Bell would know,,,