A super-Earth found in the outer Solar System?

Maybe, maybe not. Chances seem a long-shot.

Yousuf Khan

A super-Earth in our solar system? Not so fast. | Astronomy.com
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/1...em-not-so-fast

Dear Yousuf Khan:

On Tuesday, December 15, 2015 at 2:27:39 AM UTC-7, Yousuf Khan wrote:
Maybe, maybe not. Chances seem a long-shot.

Oh, I am pretty sure it is fact. Something was in-system very early in the history of the solar system, more massive than Jupiter, and was responsible for the solar system's current shape.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...h-Neptune.html

There have been three pieces of evidence that point to the possibility of a massive object, whether or not it is a rocky body (it would be frozen solid now):
- something is displacing Oort cloud object inwards,
- anomalous increase in lunar eccentricity,
http://arxiv.org/abs/1102.0212
- more...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyche_...ical_planet%29

.... and New Horizons may yet shed some light on this...
http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.0258
... whether or not it is heading that way.

David A. Smith

On 15/12/2015 9:58 AM, dlzc wrote:
On Tuesday, December 15, 2015 at 2:27:39 AM UTC-7, Yousuf Khan
wrote:
Maybe, maybe not. Chances seem a long-shot.
Oh, I am pretty sure it is fact. Something was in-system very early
in the history of the solar system, more massive than Jupiter, and
was responsible for the solar system's current shape.

It was just discovered by a chance occultation of one of the stars in
the Alpha Centauri system. Previous to that, the WISE space telescope
searched for it in infrared, and found nothing. It could just be a
passing asteroid.

Yousuf Khan

Dear Yousuf Khan:

On Thursday, December 17, 2015 at 1:43:33 AM UTC-7, Yousuf Khan wrote:
On 15/12/2015 9:58 AM, dlzc wrote:
On Tuesday, December 15, 2015 at 2:27:39 AM UTC-7, Yousuf Khan
wrote:
Maybe, maybe not. Chances seem a long-shot.

Oh, I am pretty sure it is fact. Something was
in-system very early in the history of the solar
system, more massive than Jupiter, and was
responsible for the solar system's current shape.

It was just discovered by a chance occultation of
one of the stars in the Alpha Centauri system.
Previous to that, the WISE space telescope
searched for it in infrared, and found nothing.

.... at the range of frequencies for bodies that are warmer than background...

It could just be a passing asteroid.

Sure. Could even be some other body in the Oort cloud.

David A. Smith