Tag

Solar System

All articles tagged with #solar system

science3 days ago•4 min saved

Infrared Archives Yield First Tangible Candidate for Planet Nine

Astronomers have identified a potential observational candidate for the hypothetical Planet Nine by analyzing decades-old infrared data. Terry Long Phan and colleagues compared surveys from the 1983 IRAS satellite and the 2006-2007 AKARI mission. After filtering millions of sources, they isolated one object that shifted 47.5 arcminutes over 23 years, consistent with a massive body located 500 to 700 astronomical units from the Sun. While not a definitive discovery, this faint point offers the first tangible target for follow-up observations.

via ZME Science|

#akari-satellite #infrared-astronomy #planet-nine

science4 days ago

Caltech Study: Random Solar Mass Ejections Will Destroy Outer Planets in 1 Billion Years

A new study led by Konstantin Batygin at Caltech argues that the outer solar system will collapse within one billion years after the Sun becomes a white dwarf, a timeline a billion times shorter than previous estimates. The research suggests that random, violent mass ejections from the dying Sun, rather than smooth mass loss, will destabilize the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. While earlier models predicted stability for trillions of years, this new analysis indicates that stochastic 'kicks' from the Sun will trigger violent scattering, potentially ending the solar system's existence far sooner than anticipated.

via futurism.com|

#astronomy #caltech #orbital-mechanics

science4 days ago•1 min saved

Infrared Archives Yield First Potential Trace of Planet Nine

Astronomer Terry Long Phan identified a potential candidate for Planet Nine by analyzing 23-year gaps in infrared data from the IRAS and AKARI satellites. The object, which shifted 47.5 arcminutes, matches the predicted size and distance of a hypothetical ninth planet. While this is the first observational hint, confirmation requires follow-up observations to determine its exact orbit.

via BBC Sky at Night Magazine|

#astronomy #infrared-astronomy #iras

science6 days ago•4 min saved

Solar System Collapse Timeline Shortened to One Billion Years by Random Solar Mass Ejections

New simulations suggest the outer solar system will disassemble within one billion years after the Sun becomes a white dwarf, a timeline a billion times shorter than previous estimates. The instability is driven by random, directional mass ejections from the dying Sun, which destabilize planetary orbits far sooner than smooth mass loss models predicted.

via 404 Media|

#astrophysics #orbital-mechanics #science

science7 days ago•2 min saved

Solar System Collapse Timeline Shortened by Billion-Fold Due to Random Solar Mass Ejections

New research from Caltech indicates the outer planets will be ejected from the solar system roughly one billion years after the Sun becomes a white dwarf, a timeline a billion times shorter than previous estimates. The study attributes this accelerated collapse to random, violent mass ejections from the dying Sun, which destabilize planetary orbits far sooner than smooth mass loss models predicted.

via Euronews.com|

#astronomy #caltech #planetary-orbits

science8 days ago•15 min saved

New simulations suggest the outer solar system may collapse within a billion years

Recent research indicates that the Sun's transition into a white dwarf could destabilize the outer solar system far faster than previously thought. Instead of remaining stable for trillions of years, simulations suggest Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune could be ejected into interstellar space within roughly one billion years. This accelerated timeline is driven by random mass ejections during the Sun's red giant phase, which impart velocity kicks to planetary orbits, causing them to break down before the star fully settles into its final state.

via The Independent|

#astronomy #planetary-orbits #science

science8 days ago•1 min saved

Stochastic Solar Mass Loss May End the Outer Solar System in 1 Billion Years

New simulations by Konstantin Batygin and colleagues at the California Institute of Technology suggest the outer solar system may disassemble within one billion years after the Sun becomes a white dwarf, a timeframe a billion times shorter than previous estimates. The study accounts for random, directional mass ejections during the Sun’s red giant phase, which create velocity kicks that destabilize planetary orbits. While smooth mass loss models predicted stability for over 10^18 years, stochastic ejections with masses around 10^-4 solar masses could trigger instability before the white dwarf stage even completes, with 90% of simulations showing breakdown within three billion years.

via AAS Nova|

#astronomy #orbital-dynamics #science

astronomy11 days ago•130 min saved

Uranus’s 98-degree tilt remains a mystery, with new theories pointing to a lost moon

Uranus’s extreme 98-degree axial tilt, which causes it to roll on its side rather than spin upright, remains a subject of ongoing debate among astronomers. While the exact cause is unknown, recent research suggests a collision with a hypothetical 'lost' moon in the distant past may have instigated this unique orientation. The planet, the coldest in the solar system, has at least 27 known moons that share this unusual tilt, and its discovery history dates back to William Herschel’s 1781 observations.

via Space|

#astronomy #ice-giants #planetary-formation

science12 days ago•121 min saved

Record-Breaking Solar Proximity: From 1887 Comets to Parker Solar Probe

Live Science reports that while Mercury is the closest planet, asteroids and comets have approached the Sun much more closely. The Great Southern Comet of 1887 holds the record for the closest surviving object at 446,187 miles from the Sun's center, though hypothetical 'sundiving' comets may have crossed the photosphere.

via Live Science|

#astronomy #comets #nasa

science18 days ago•9 min saved

Hubble’s Solar System Showreel: Mars to Comets in Stunning Detail

The piece surveys the Hubble Space Telescope’s most striking Solar System images—from Mars and the giant planets to Pluto, moons, comets and asteroids—highlighting auroras, storms, rings and newly discovered moons. It also notes that inner planets aren’t imaged from Hubble because of brightness and proximity to the Sun, and it celebrates Hubble’s transformative role in solar-system imaging with extensive image credits.

via BBC Sky at Night Magazine|

#hubble-space-telescope #jupiter #mars

space24 days ago•12 min saved

Planet Nine Could Be Big Yet Hidden in a Deep Cosmic Dimness

Planet Nine, if it exists, could have several Earth masses and be over twice Earth’s diameter, but at hundreds of AU from the Sun it would reflect so little light that its brightness would be extraordinarily faint and often vanish into the background. The light that does reach Earth must travel outward and back, so the overall reflected flux drops roughly with the inverse fourth power of distance, making even a relatively large planet extremely hard to spot with current surveys. Ongoing searches, including the Rubin Observatory’s LSST, aim to detect it or tighten where it could lie; however, non-detection so far does not rule out a distant, faint world.

via Space Daily|

#astronomy #kuiper-belt #planet-nine

space25 days ago•137 min saved

Planet Nine’s case gains momentum as data hints at a hidden world

Astronomers ongoingly explore a hypothetical ninth planet, Planet Nine. Proponents Batygin and Brown argue a Neptune-mass world beyond Neptune could explain unusual clustering of distant objects; recent 2024 findings strengthen the case that Planet Nine helps account for observed orbital patterns, though no direct detection has been made. The Rubin Observatory and similar facilities may soon provide the crucial observations needed, while debates over Pluto’s status and earlier Planet X ideas frame the evolving search at the solar system’s edge.

via Space|

#batygin #brown #planet-nine

space27 days ago•136 min saved

Venus Is Hotter Than Mercury: The Heat Blanket That Traps the Heat

Venus ends up hotter than Mercury not because it’s closer to the Sun, but because its thick CO2 atmosphere and dense clouds trap heat so effectively that infrared energy is repeatedly absorbed and re-emitted, creating a strong greenhouse effect. Mercury, by contrast, has almost no atmosphere, so it heats during the day but cools dramatically at night. Even though Venus reflects a large portion of sunlight, the atmosphere’s heat-trapping blanket means the planet’s surface stays extremely hot, illustrating that distance from the Sun is only part of a planet’s climate story.

via livescience.com|

#atmosphere #greenhouse-effect #mercury

space28 days ago•4 min saved

Mercury's Hidden Contraction: Up to 14.5 Miles Shrunk, Study Finds

New research suggests Mercury's diameter has shrunk by as much as about 14.5 miles—roughly 30% more than previously thought—due to cooling of its interior, though debris from impacts hides surface wrinkles; the upcoming BepiColombo mission, arriving in 2026, will help refine how much Mercury has contracted.

via USA Today|

#bepicolombo #geophysics #mercury

space1 month ago•2 min saved

Venus May Have Hosted a Short-Lived Moon Before Its Demise

A new arXiv study suggests Venus could have harbored a moon for up to about 1.7 billion years (if the moon was roughly half the mass of Earth's), while a moon twice as massive would last only ~30 million years before Venus’ gravity drags it into the Roche limit and tears it apart, implying a brief, moon-influenced phase in Venus’s early history that could relate to its potential habitability.

via Gizmodo|

#moon #roche-limit #solar-system