back to article Calm your conspiracy theories, latest glimpse reveals Planet Nine may just be a pipe dream

The mysterious, so-called Planet Nine, may not be a planet after all but just gravitational trickery, according to a new study. A team of researchers have published a new theory explaining why objects on the edge of the Solar System like Sedna - classified as a large minor planet - have such weird, giant circular orbits. Sedna …

  1. willi0000000

    it's Planet Ten, damnit!

    [ haven't they seen Buckaroo Banzai? ]

    1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      A film I tried to watch twice sober & drunk respectively & gave up.....

      Obviously it's Rupert.

      1. MrDamage Silver badge

        There's your problem. Half a tab of acid and a couple of reefers, and it made perfect sense to me.

        1. Fungus Bob

          Made perfect sense to me without drugs. Does that mean I'm trippin' all the time and don't even know it?

  2. Denarius

    dino killer rock

    ITIRC that boffins had identified that rock as from a Juipiter Trojan group that broke up a large asteroid into smaller erratic chunks, at least one of which hit Earth

  3. GrumpyKiwi

    There is already a ninth planet and it's called Pluto. Screw you IAU.

    1. Long John Brass

      So the Mun is getting promoted?

      Luna - Radius: 1,737 km

      Pluto - Radius: 1,188 km

    2. I3N
      Angel

      If that is your intent ...

      ... support naming that dwarf planet Laika!

      [aka PUP for those Space Dandy fans]

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Planet 10 1803.

    They should call it Planet 10 1803, given the anomalies/havoc it's causing to our solar system.

    1. I3N
      Coat

      Re: Planet 10 1803.

      The # 1803 now haunts my vivid dreams!

      In the form of a 3 times b*strd of the prime 601.

      Always with a 'welcome back' to 1709.

  5. wolfetone Silver badge
    Joke

    When my wife caught me in bed with her sister, I too told her that while it may look like that her sister is in bed with me, it's just gravitation trickery combobulating the light and deceiving her eyes.

    Like me with this article, she too didn't buy the explanation.

  6. Rich 11

    It's a conspiracy!

    Instead, there is no new, undiscovered planet. The strange orbits of TNOs are a result of what the researchers call “collective gravity”.

    Pfft. This is an obvious cover-up. It's all being done with computers, nothing real. Show me the asteroids, I say. Show me the asteroids!

    The astronomers have been watching Nibiru for decades and they know what's coming. Oh yes, they know. And now to hide the reality of our doom the conspirators are creating excuses that wouldn't fool even the most ignorant and stupid Planet X true believer.

  7. A-nonCoward

    Gee required quote

    https://grisebouille.net/planete-9/

  8. 89724102371719531892724I9755670349743096734346773478647852349863592355648544996313855148583659264921

    Oumuamua originated in our solar system

  9. not.known@this.address
    Alien

    Eat your heart out, Copernicus - the Flat-Earthers were right!

    There is no ninth planet, and certainly no tenth. And no intelligent life outside the solar system. I know this cos my mate told me last night.

    Yuggoth is a small town outside Guildford, right?

    1. Afernie

      Re: Eat your heart out, Copernicus - the Flat-Earthers were right!

      "I know this cos my mate told me last night."

      Has your mate acquired a nasal, buzzing quality to his voice and refuses to be viewed in direct light? Lots of those summer colds going round...

  10. niio

    99% of scientists blame solar system warming

  11. Allaun Silverfox

    Mildly disappointing

    It would have been an excellent opportunity to study so called "super earths" without needing to travel faster than light.

  12. John Geek
    Pint

    at a 'astronomy on tap' beer-n-astrophysics event last month, a couple of the post-docs said pretty much exactly the same thing, that its turned out the orbital fluctuation measured were either erroneous or could be explained by existing phenomena.

    1. GrapeBunch

      at a 'astronomy on tap' beer-n-astrophysics event last month, a couple of the post-docs said pretty much exactly the same thing, that its turned out the orbital fluctuation measured were either erroneous or could be explained by existing phenomena.

      Now is the Occam of our Discontent

      Made glorious summer by this sun of Sedna.

  13. Afernie
    Headmaster

    "Scientists believe Planet Nine may have began as the core of a gas giant, "

    The PGN is developing a facial tic...

  14. ravenviz Silver badge

    whopping eight billion miles

    Even that not-planet Pluto’s distance is usually quoted on Astronomical Units, I have no idea how far billions of miles is.

    1. Alphebatical
      Boffin

      Assuming I didn't screw my math up, that's about 9.26 kilosuns(or 292.6 Sagittarius A*s) away.

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