[Oswald2001]

Originally Posted by PlinyTheYounger ↗

Probably just ice

Dirty ice.

Filthy dirty ice.

[gatagato]

Originally Posted by icheerthebull ↗

Well isn't this guy the same guy who downgraded Pluto? I'm not ready to forgive him for that just yet

That broke my heart as well, my friend, but he didn't downgrade Pluto because Pluto is ugly according to his taste and interest: the truth is that his research lead the International Astronomical Union to create an official definition for the term "planet" on August 24, 2006, according to which an object in the Solar System must meet three conditions to be considered a Planet:

1-The object must be in orbit around the Sun, and Pluto does.

2-The object must be massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity and its own gravity should pull it into a shape of hydrostatic equilibrium, both when it is at rest, or when the flow velocity at each point is constant over time. And Pluto is OK with this too.

3-It must have cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.

And that is where the shoe pinches: Pluto's mass is only 0.07 compared to the rest of the shit in its orbit.

The resolution was ridiculous if not heretic, in my humble opinion (and not only in mine) because according to the very very very same criteria, even Earth, Jupiter and Neptune (maybe Mars too) should be excluded from the list AND/OR even our Moon should be a Planet, i guess it's depending on the mood of the scientists who were in Prague that day, at this point.

However, this news is about something very different as the new Planet has 5,000 times the mass of Pluto and yes, that IS a WAY sufficient mass to clear its neighborhood of smaller objects, and NO doubts about the criteria 1 and 2.

Paradoxically, the main reason why Pluto was demoted IS more or less the same reason why this newly discovered celestial body deserves to be promoted to Planet.

If it really exists.

P.S.:
Less than 5% of the astronomers voted for the 2006 resolution, you decide how representative it was of the entire astronomical community.

[el_topo]

Question: If this Planet X is yet unseen, how do we, or they know that it's there? I understand they claim it orbits the Sun every 15,000 years, but how did they even find out about it if they've never seen it with any telescopes or insturments? Makes me wonder at what else lurks in our mysterious universe.

[bdjackass318]

Could this be the planet Nibiru? The catastyclymic planet that was mentioned by Sumerians.

[Anarchy99]

Originally Posted by shoelessjojackson ↗

Question: If this Planet X is yet unseen, how do we, or they know that it's there? I understand they claim it orbits the Sun every 15,000 years, but how did they even find out about it if they've never seen it with any telescopes or insturments? Makes me wonder at what else lurks in our mysterious universe.

I think they detected it by calculating gravitational anomalies in the orbits of other planets. According to Wikipedia "The planet Neptune was mathematically predicted before it was directly observed." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_of_Neptune). This planet has been theorized several times in the past, however, its existence had later been dismissed. I'm surmising that they are now also using the orbits of the other Astronomical bodies to further strengthen mathematically the theoretical existence of this planet.

I'm actually surprised that this planet's existence had been dismissed before in the past, because there seems to be a good amount of evidence supporting its existence.

[rapeWhistle]

Originally Posted by icheerthebull ↗

Well isn't this guy the same guy who downgraded Pluto? I'm not ready to forgive him for that just yet

Yeah, what the hell..?!

Pluto WASN'T a planet, now it is again.

I blame the progressives for this shit. "Trans" planets...?...


#allplanetsmatter

[Oswald2001]

Originally Posted by rapeWhistle ↗

Yeah, what the hell..?!

Pluto WASN'T a planet, now it is again.

I blame the progressives for this shit. "Trans" planets...?...


#allplanetsmatter

The 'transition' is underway.

Celebrate it.

[b0g]

I recall that Pluto was found also by abnormalities observed in Neptune path. First the maths to back up the thesis.
But discovery can takes decades. I believe the mathematician of Pluto did not live to witness the discovery.

Now we know Pluto is at least a quintuple planetary system.

[Spiffyfable]

Seems like I recall something about a youtube video that claimed that Aliens exist and were actually communicating with some of the Governments of the World. Anyway one of them mentioned that we had another planet in our solar system that we didn't discover yet....

Hhhmmmmm

[BryanXavier]

Pluto's not a planet though....right? Or did they change it back?