Something big is warping the outer solar system
This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 84%. (I'm a bot)
The plane of our solar system is warped in the outer reaches of the Kuiper Belt, suggesting the presence of an unknown Mars-to-Earth-mass planetary object far beyond Pluto-but much closer than Planet Nine.
An unknown, unseen "Planetary mass object" may lurk in the outer reaches of our solar system, according to new research on the orbits of minor planets.
While most KBOs-debris left over from the formation of the solar system-orbit the sun with orbital tilts that average out to what planetary scientists call the invariable plane of the solar system, the most distant of the Kuiper Belt's objects don't.
In other words, something unknown is warping the average orbital plane of the outer solar system.
If one were to think of the average orbital plane of objects in the outer solar system as a sheet, it should be quite flat past 50 AU, Volk says.
A possible alternative to an unseen object that could have ruffled the plane of outer Kuiper Belt objects could be a star that buzzed the solar system in recent history, the authors said.
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Posted Jun 26, 2017, 8:34 PM UTC