Far out in the frozen outermost depths of our solar system , there might be a obscure satellite four times the size of it of Jupiter . This secret associate to the Sun could be responsible for institutionalise comets into the inner solar system .
This idea is an intriguing edition on the old Nemesis theory , which hold in the Sun has a littler companion ace orb the out scope of the solar system . The Nemesis superstar was consider to be either a pint - sized red gnome of a fail dark-brown dwarf , and either way its crusade through the Oort Cloud at the furthest edge of our solar scheme would cause comet to hurtle out of their necrology . Some of these would hit Earth , top to mass quenching event . The presence of Nemesis would explain why these extinctions pass off in an apparently cyclic manner .
That ’s the erstwhile possibility , which fall aside because ( among other things ) it turns out Nemesis could not have a stable enough orbit to describe for the regular mass extinctions , which is the independent intellect such an object was hypothesized in the first place . But now University of Louisiana - Lafayette astrophysicists John Matese and Daniel Whitmire have a new possibility that hold a rather different kind of companion object is out in the Oort Cloud . Fittingly , they ’ve named it Tyche , who in mythology is the good babe of the evil Nemesis .
So , why should Tyche exist ? For one thing , two centuries deserving of notice indicate a disproportionate amount of comet originate from the outer region of the Oort Cloud as opposed to the areas nigher to the Sun . A planet anywhere from one to four times the mass of Jupiter could be responsible for the gravitational influence that would make this asymmetry . Matese points out that the probability that this effect is strictly a statistical fluke is passing small , which suggests there ’s something unusual go on out there in the outer Oort . Tyche might also be responsible for the unco elongated orbit of the gnome planet Sedna .
Matese enunciate such the uncovering a planet would be a immense electrical shock to terrestrial scientists :
“ Most planetary scientists would not be surprised if the largest undiscovered companion was Neptune - sized or little , but a Jupiter - mass aim would be a surprise . If the speculation is indeed reliable , the of import implication would relate to how it got there – touching on the early solar environment – and how it might have affected the subsequent distributions of comet and , to a less extent , the known planets . ”
If the planet live , it would be located some 30,000 astronomical unit out , meaning its distance from the Sun is 30,000 times that of Earth . It be passing stale , with a temperature of about -73 degrees Celsius . At such a freezing temperature , Tyche would diversify no heat for us to detect , and its extreme space would make it unbelievably punishing to spot . By comparison , Neptune is only 30 astronomic units away , and the Kuiper Belt is just 55 AU from the Sun .
There ’s some hope that we could see Tyche , however . NASA ’s WISE outer space telescope might have catch sight of Tyche before its mission end in October . Actually , we need to hope it spotted the satellite doubly , as otherwise it would be impossible to bear out its creation . If WISE , which is the most muscular infrared scope yet built , could not discover Tyche , then it will be quite a few years before we ’ve got a legitimate prospect at seeing it again … take it ’s out there in the first place .
[ viaSpace.com ]
AstronomyMad astronomyNemesisScienceSpace
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