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Scientists, telescope hunt massive hidden object in space
You know how you sometimes can sense that something is present even though you can't see it? Well, astronomers are getting that feeling about a giant, hidden object in space.
And when we say giant, we mean GIANT.
Evidence is mounting that either a brown dwarf star or a gas giant planet is lurking at the outermost reaches of our solar system, far beyond Pluto. The theoretical object, dubbed Tyche, is estimated to be four times the size of Jupiter and 15,000 times farther from the sun than Earth, according to a story in the British paper The Independent.
Astrophysicists John Matese and Daniel Whitmire from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette think data from NASA's infrared space telescope WISE will confirm Tyche's existence and location within two years.
The presence of such a massive object in the solar system's far-flung Oort Cloud could explain a barrage of comets from an unexpected direction, according to a December article at Space.com.
Its 27 million-year orbit could also explain a pattern of mass extinctions on Earth, scientists say.
Brown dwarfs are cold "failed" stars; their dimness and lack of heat radiation can make them hard to detect. Gas giants are huge planets - like Saturn, Jupiter and Neptune - that are made up of gases and may lack a solid surface like Earth's.
Whitmire told The Independent that Tyche will probably be composed of hydrogen and helium and have colorful spots, bands and clouds like Jupiter.
"You'd also expect it to have moons," he said. "All the outer planets have them."
Tyche was first hypothesized in 1984 as Nemesis, a dark companion star to the sun. It's been the subject of astronomical research and debate ever since. In July, another Space.com article said the celestial evidence suggests Tyche could not possibly exist.
To distinguish it from the Nemesis star theory, Matese and Whitmire are calling their object Tyche, after the good sister of the goddess Nemesis in Greek mythology.
Their research is published in Icarus, the International Journal of Solar System Studies.
On Twitter
...that's no moon.......................
Hopefully we can learn to avoid it's tractor beam.
That thing's operational!
My sentiments exactly, but few will get the reference.
It's a trap!
Where the heck is Luke when you need him?!
Many Bothans died to bring us this information.
I shouldn't have come, I'm endangering the mission!
This is Red 5, I'm going in.
I have you now.
lol, these are better than comments on giz
mfw.jpg
look at the size of that thing
It's too big to be a space station.
Red Six: I got a problem here.
Biggs: Eject!
Red Six: I can hold it.
Biggs: Pull up!
Red Six: No, I'm all right... ahhh!
[Porkin's fighter explodes in a ball of fire]
Why they gotta name the fat guy Porkins
Its a space station
I've got a bad feeling about this...
Hang on back there!
Oh god. I love the internet.
Luke you've switched off your targeting computer!
You can't win, but there are alternatives to fighting.
You’re all clear, kid! Now let’s blow this thing and go home
Your eyes can deceive you; don't trust them
The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
I think my eyes are getting better. Instead of a big dark blur, I see a big light blur
"But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!"
"You can waste time with your friends when your chores are done."
Palm to forehead.....Mel, dear Mel, please, lets keep it classic.....ugh
You truly belong here with us among the (Oort) cloud...
...so these "large cold spherical stars" otherwise known as "blue balls" are really...
Evacuate?! In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances.
Use the Force, Luke!
Hmmmm, imbeciles you all are!
Everything is proceeding exactly as I have forseen....
chewbacka says hi
hi chewbacka
As you can see, my young apprentice, your friends have failed. Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL battle station!
"GGRRRrraaaaauhhrr!!" says the wookie.
Almost thereeeeee........
Stay on target....
Stay on target...
Stay on target!!!
I'm giving her all she's got, Captain!
Meesa gonna make the comments un-beawable!
Beep boop beep
It came from... behind!
You really think most won't get the reference? It's freakin star wars for god's sake! I'm not even a huge fan and got the reference...
On a side note...pretzel M&M's are damn good!
Loosen up!
Yes sir, I can fly...and on a personal note, ever since I was abducted 10 years ago I've been wanting to payback.
Kenobi: I felt a great disturbance in the force.
Skywalker: Oh, that's just the theoretical object Tyche.
My vengeance will be neither swift nor entertaining! I will mete it out over decades, so that you will wonder if the misery in your life is manifest, the machinations of Leonardo Leonardo, or... some third thing. Good day!
It's a miracle he cares about anything...or anybody.
Princess Lei: No! Alderaan is peaceful! We have no weapons, you can't possibly...
General Tarkin: You would prefer another target, a military target? Then name the system! I grow tired of asking this so it will be the last time: Where is the rebel base?
Princess Leia: Dantooine. They're on Dantooine.
Governor Tarkin: There. You see, Lord Vader, she can be reasonable. Continue with the operation; you may fire when ready.
Princess Leia: WHAT?
Governor Tarkin: You're far too trusting. Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration – but don't worry; we will deal with your rebel friends soon enough.
Princess Leia: No...
I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master.
Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?
Don’t call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease.
Search your feelings you know it to be true.
duh. idk......=P just kidding......=P just kidding.
more innovatives and flavours on the site and graphics.
information are essential for geological students, all over the world.
You know something? Two years ago when people were asking about their 2012 theories regarding a companion object in orbit somewhere past the ort could, scientists were quick to downplay it as fantasy thinking.. But now, wait a minutes. They could be right? Don't you get the feel that these people don't know what they hell they are doing anymore? I do.
and they are right, this object, if it exists has jack all to do with 2012.
They need to quit poking around in space trying to find objects and creatures to "study" before they cause something very bad an irreversible to happen!!
Oh good grief
Relax. No harm can happen from just observing things. Nothing is going to change if we do discover that Tyche does exist. It will merely prove our current hypothesis and explain a great number of unknowns about our solar system.
They aren't roaming the galaxy poking things... they are observing things from earth. It will have no effect on anything other than our understanding of the universe. You need more education before you let your opinions be heard.
Like what?
or see a comet far enough out to allow us to divert its trajectory and save earth thus your petty existance
Run back into your cave quickly! I think NASA's focusing their satellites on your location, you know they can! They are going to control your thoughts and make you recant everything you just said, don't forget to wrap your head in aluminum foils!
they will discover that the answer is really 42 and who knows they may even find a point of view gun.
.. and thanks for all the fish!
Thats what she said
Maybe we can send Sarah Palin to investigate, that will get rid of her for at least a few thousand years.
Something "very bad" like knowledge?
So pepple you suggest that we stick our heads in the sand?
Your right, being aware of a massive point of gravity that could knock rocks our way and reduce our mud ball to a bunch of mud balls is a door you can only go through once. Let's ignore any chance we have of not being forewarned so we can die like rats in a trap with our dignity.
This waste of money to prove scientists right, and creationists wrong, is insane. It's as brainless, as saying santions will affect a political leader; when the truth is, clearly it's innocent people they're killing. Stop spending taxpayers' hard earned cash on your conspiracies and get a life, NASA! Might as we go hunt Jesus Christ, God, and all his angels and torture them 'til they tell you what happened. Good luck! College kids need that cash for books.
Medication is your friend; I suggest getting some and quieting the voices in your head...
Get a life indeed, NASA. You tell 'em.
If there were no theories, there'd be no discoveries. If there were n discoveries then there would be nothing to print in student text books. Get the point? No, this has nothing to do with religion., but your comment shows how some people are very insecure with their religions.
The hell does creationist and god have to do with a large dead star orbiting our solar system? Conspiracies and scientific hypothesis are two very different things. They are trying to learn more about the universe. If everyone was as closed minded as you, our civilization would have never gotten as far as it has. The quest for knowledge and understanding help us evolve, and leave people like you behind.
Get some education and earn a good enough living so your kids aren't struggling for books for school. Besides, no one needs to prove that creationism is wrong. it's up to creatiionists to prove that creationism is right. That's how science works.
Just a handful of things given to us from NASA's "wasteful spending" you know:
http://curiosity.discovery.com/topic/transportation-science/ten-nasa-inventions.htm
Isn't it funny who the creationists are? Xians (not muslims, hindu's, etc), at least I've never seen anyone besides Xians so passionate about creation. Seems like there is something wrong with the whole conversation to date, and I don't think the problem resides solely in the "mythical beliefs" spectrum.
it's 2 astrophysicists from Louisiana studying data from a NASA telescope...not NASA itself doing the research. Not that it would matter either way. On another note, science and religion are not mutually exclusive...only closed minded, divisive people on either side make them appear that way.
We don't need astrophysicists to prove the Bible's version creationism is wrong. The biologists and geologists have done a good job of that already. That doesn't mean the idea of creationism itself is necessarily flawed. God still may have created the universe. Astrophysics is just a way of finding out what else has been created besides us.
Tomaz, your ignorance is exceeded only by your shortsightness. I suppose you wish Columbus had stayed in Portugal, that we've explored the depths of our oceans and even that we moved west of St. Louis to "explore." Go stick your head in the sand, friend. Leave the rest of us to LEARN about our solar system, the universe and the things unknown.
Tomaz, your post is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever read. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having read it.
Spending money on the exploration of our universe sounds like a fine idea to me. You want something to get worked up over? How about watching grown men get paid tens of millions of dollars to play games like football or whatnot? That's what burns me up. We don't want to spend the money to give our children a decent public education but it's perfectly acceptable to pay people like Carmelo Anthony how much to play basketball for the next 3 years? At least I can feel confident that the money being spent by an agency like NASA is actually going to have a tangible result – new technology for instance.
Since when did "God" need a bodyguard...
Right......trying to understand why Earth has been constantly bombarded by comet/asteroid cycles in the past and perhaps discovering or disproving once and for all a possible cause is a waste of time. College kids need more money for books? That is true but clearly you don't read them much or you would realize how dumb your comment is. Herp derp, derp....NASA is just a conspiracy theory organization....herp derp derp.
Id rather have NASA spend money than pi$$ is away on other countries that want us dead.
Id rather have NASA spend money to learn about the universe than WASTE the heck out of it by spending it on other countries that want us all dead.
This has nothing to do with Money for NASA – you really are a zealot. There's been more lives and money [wasted] in building churches and mosques and temples and religious wars, than ever spent in scientific endeavors. All because of human sheep believing the stories our ancestors made up to make people feel good and make sense of us being sentient beings. Science always proves or disproves the factual. Let's give more money to the scientists so we can discover and learn more. Religion only proves we fear the unknown.
27 million years is not long ago. Why is this dwarf so young and what is it's role in mass extinction other than comets?
It said it's ORBIT was 27 million years, not it's age.
The article said it has a 27 million year ORBIT, not that it is 27 million years old. Reading comprehension is not that difficult.
27 million years is the length of its orbit around the Sun, not how old it is.
Many massively huge stars lead very short lives, relatively speaking. Somewhere in the last 27 million years, while this planet was still likely still in its first orbit, chunks, pieces and detritus was ejected, fell off or was blown outward. Some of those chunks could easily change the orbit of something in the Oort cloud, hence a collision, another collision, and so on till something hit the earth.
The observers believe that they enough data to plot the objects orbit; but yet it's going to be another two years before another observatory can verify that the object even exists. Did I read that correctly?
Hey Voice of Reason, its not like they can just pull out the nearest telescope of binoculars. This object, which mathematical equations suggest exists, is 15,000 times farther from the sun than earth. In case you don't know what that means, it means that the object, close to the size of Jupiter, is roughly 15,000 x 93,000,000 miles away. It is not a simple task to just look for it. These things take time.
To the two brainless religious idiots, the world is round, try to remember that. And hopefully college would teach you that science and technology is our future, not your mythical beliefs.
If science and technology is our future, then it's sad that we will eventually replace ourselves with our own creations.
Jeff, with all due respect, that's the most narrow-minded comment I've read in a long time. You seem to be one of those that mistake your opinions for facts.
@Hm are you talking about the movie terminator. Judgment day isn't real it from a movie..... Oh and just remember no one can be told what the matrix is.
..I'm thinking more "Idiocricy"
Jeff, you know whats funny about that statement. If people would have just looked to the Bible during the whole earth is flat/round argument they would have seen that the Bible said the earth was round.
'Jeff, you know whats funny about that statement. If people would have just looked to the Bible during the whole earth is flat/round argument they would have seen that the Bible said the earth was round.'
Actually it says its a circle, which of course it isnt but never mind.
Plus of course the ancient greeks figured out the earth was 'spherical' anyway.
Actually, Jeff, it's an oblate spheroid.
With any luck, the replacements that science provides wont be weighed down with outdated ideas that really have no more meaning that a lucky charm
27 million years is it's orbit, not it's age...
Where did it come from? How did it get there? Who put it there?
We need to ask Bill O'Reilly...ASAP!
He'll know!
nah, you cant explain that..... who put it there? huh? cmon..... who put it there?
last thing we need is that tool walking into the discussion
Can anyone say, "Satirical Sarcasm"?
That's what I meant with my comment posted.
I type a comment on my computer and people from all over the world can read it. How does all that ink get through all that wire??? Can anybody explain that?????????
Brown Dwarf star goes up.
Brown Dwarf star goes down.
No splanation needed.
I got it!!
No miscommunication, dammit!
Why peoples with extremly low IQ (IE those wo beleive in Santa and God) are allowed to be near a computer? Don;t they know computers are Science's creation and therefor BAD.
OK... one more time: DOES NOT EXIST PERIOD. now deal with it.
Oh ye of even lower IQ. Why don't you converse with those believers of higher IQ and learn that not many have a problem with science at all.
Because we religious scientists scare him.
Santa isn't real?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isn't religious scientist an oxymoron? Like cold fire or non-racist Repubilican?
...nevermind.
Never mind is two words.
@TN Such as yourself with the inept use of punctuation and english usage????
@TN – low IQ? You are kidding, right? At least you have a large ego.
@Q religious scientist is hardly an oxymoron. A scientist is someone who searches for the truth in the world around him knowing that he may advance society closer to it, but they will never actually reach complete truth. Those of us who are religious scientists see such beauty and order in the universe that we realize that the likelihood of it “just happening” is minuscule.
Whew, as long as the Easter Bunny is real, I can live the rest of life in peace and happiness. Thank God, d'oh, thank...science?
I'M AFRAID OF EVERYTHING AND THIS CONFIRMS MY FEARS IN EVERYTHING BY BEING MORE ELABORATE THAN I CAN UNDERSTAND!!! OH NOES!!
@ TN post.
BTW, if you ever have a way of thinking, I should hope you fear it being wrong because that would mean you've lived wrong for the previous tenure of your life. I'm not talking about immobilizing fear, but a respectful fear. The trick is to accept change, not ignore it.
Don't fear the reaper.....
In the (East) Indian Astrology there are 5 planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupitor, and Saturn) +Sun+ Moon and then interestingly two imaginary planets called Rahu and Ketu both having directions of movement opposite to the other planets. Also mythologically Rahu and Ketu occasionally 'swallow'-completely dominate -Moon and Sun respectively. This system of 9 objects in our solar system is called 'Navgrahas' which supposedly dominates everyones life. I am sure some people would like to find corelation between these ancient beliefs and possible future discoveries. Some food for thought.
Umm, those two "imaginary" planets were actually used to explain lunar and solar eclipse'.
I guess the doomsday wackos who predicted Planet X being a brown dwarf and involved with Earthly collisions were correct. I think I better go find my tin foil. This is getting creepy.
Hopefully everyone has their life in order. This is just proof that Planet X, aka. Nibiru, is headed our way. Zecharia Sitchin already warned us about this. Open your eyes. V for victory! Listen to Alex Jones and learn more about the New World Order. George Soros is behind this.
*sigh* I knew it was only a matter of time before the "giant lizards masquerading as world leaders" conspiracists would show up.
'*sigh* I knew it was only a matter of time before the "giant lizards masquerading as world leaders" conspiracists would show up.'
Actually the conspiracy theorists have always been here, right from the very beginning! Just hanging around, theorizing, I wonder what they want and what they are doing, makes you think.
Wait, that means I'm one of them.........or am I.
A...friggin...Men.
Someone here gets it.
Isn't a bit racist to call this thing a "brown" dwarf?
a black hoe
Is it insensitive to call it a 'dwarf'? I'm sure it'd prefer 'little star' instead....
ha! The 5th element!