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New dwarf planet spotted at the edge of the solar system

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2481477-new-dwarf-planet-spotted-at-the-edge-of-the-solar-system/
wise_pancake @lemmy.ca - 7mon

This far-flung orbit may be the result of an encounter with a giant planet, which ejected the candidate dwarf planet out of the solar system, say the researchers.

Poor guy. Hopefully he's out there finding his own family.

At least it doesn't have to deal with the toxicity Pluto does, being in the family one day and then coldly rejected from the family from the planet club the next. And we wonder why it's exterior is frozen...

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Rhaedas - 7mon

Dwarf or not, Pluto is STILL a planet.

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FaceDeer - 7mon

It's not, actually. "Planet" and "Dwarf planet" are disjoint sets, according to the IAU.

Is a sea lion still a lion? Same thing.

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LanguageIsCool @lemmy.world - 7mon

It’s also not a sea

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WoodScientist @sh.itjust.works - 7mon

Well, screw the IAU. What the hell does "clearing your neighborhood" even mean?

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FaceDeer - 7mon

This article goes into great detail about the various methods that one can use to measure or calculate the orbit-clearing capability of an orbiting body.

It turns out that for all of these different methods, you will find an extremely clear bimodal distribution that groups the 8 planets together as being highly capable of clearing their orbits whereas everything else falls into a statistically distinct non-clearing group. This is because there's sound dynamic reasons for why objects would fall into one group or the other with nothing lasting long in the "grey area" between them. Once an object becomes significantly better than its orbital neighbors at clearing the neighborhood it snowballs due to the feedback loop of scattering or absorbing its neighbors into itself.

That makes this a good criterion for classification. As the old saying goes, "cleave nature at the joints."

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MadMadBunny @lemmy.ca - 7mon

There are so many nasty potential jokes I decided not to get involved. Fuck it I ain’t touching that with a 30-foot pole.

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Swedneck @discuss.tchncs.de - 7mon

it means that either pluto isn't a planet, or basically the entire fucking asteroid belt it's part of is all planets

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dream_weasel - 7mon

Jerry?

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tiny_hedgehog @lemm.ee - 7mon

“The object is currently about 90.5 astronomical units (AU) away from us, or roughly 90 times as far from Earth as the sun is.”

This sentence pissed me off so much and I stopped reading after it.

It is 90.5 times as far from the Sun as the Earth is from the Sun. Why’d you have to go and change the frame of reference to Earth?

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Etterra @discuss.online - 7mon

Well it's a good frame of reference because it's where most of us keep all our stuff.

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Zos_Kia - 7mon

Talk about putting all our eggs in the same basket smh

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Kichae - 7mon

It didn't. It's 90.5 AU from us, and us is Earth. Or do you live on the Sun?

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tiny_hedgehog @lemm.ee - 7mon

If we are 1AU from the sun, and this planet is 90AU from the sun, then it is between 89 and 91 AUs from earth depending on the progress of our orbits (assuming perfectly circular orbits). So they did change the frame of reference.

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remotelove @lemmy.ca - 7mon

They didn't change the reference, they defined an AU.

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AlbinoPython @lemmy.world - 7mon

I mean, they said "roughly".

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corsicanguppy @lemmy.ca - 7mon

Like, give or take one AU, throughout the year.

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tiny_hedgehog @lemm.ee - 7mon

Fair, but annoying to the pendantic.

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powerofm @lemmy.ca - 7mon

"It's 20.5°C outside or roughly 20 notches on your thermometer (except for americans)"

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Björn - 7mon

Ugh, didn't read the "dwarf" part and got my hopes up for planet 9. When they eventually do find it they have to name it something with P so that the old mnemonics still work.

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FaceDeer - 7mon

I've heard that the sign of a fair bargain is that everybody leaves unhappy. So how about we name it "Pluto?" That should annoy pretty much everyone.

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SuperEars @lemmy.world - 7mon

"Plutwo"

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Zachariah @lemmy.world - 7mon

“Planet 9” starts with “P”

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Microw @lemm.ee - 7mon

This study authors btw say that their models for 2017 OF201's orbit work best without the influence of a hypothetical planet 9

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Björn - 7mon

Ooh, nice!

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JadenSmith @sh.itjust.works - 7mon

They prefer to be called little planets, tyvm.

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Assian_Candor [comrade/them] - 7mon

Pluto defenders in shambles

But I am not sure how to process this as a planet X fan

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NigelFrobisher @aussie.zone - 7mon

When we hit the floor you just watch them move aside
We will take them for a ride of rides
They all love your miniature ways
You know what they say about small boys

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MadMadBunny @lemmy.ca - 7mon

So, draft planet 8.1 ? 8.3 because of Pluto and Charron?

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collapse_already @lemmy.ml - 7mon

Don't forget Eris. Weighs more than Pluto.

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MadMadBunny @lemmy.ca - 7mon

Oh shit yeah… So, 8.4 then?

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MonkderVierte @lemmy.ml - 7mon

How do Sedna and that new one have a stable orbit? Are they that fast, to be able to compensate the movement of Pluto?

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certified sinonist - 7mon

dibs

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