New Section of Universe Discovered

Astronomers may have detected a dozen large objects lurking beyond the Kuiper Belt at the edge of our solar system, suggesting there could be another equally massive, "second Kuiper Belt" hiding beyond the orbit of Pluto.

Researchers may have detected a dozen new, large objects beyond the Kuiper Belt, which suggests that there is lots more stuff in the solar system than we realized. It could even hint that there is a "second Kuiper Belt" further out toward the edge of our stellar neighborhood, Science.org reported.

The sun's influence reaches much further out into space than the eight planets that orbit around it. Beyond Neptune, the solar system stretches out to around 100 astronomical units (AU), which is 100 times the distance between Earth and the sun. For context, the most distant planet from the sun, Neptune, is roughly 30 AU from our home star.

Beyond the edge of the solar system, or heliopause, lies the Oort Cloud — a reservoir of comets and asteroids that are loosely contained by the sun's gravity — that stretches to at least 1,000 AU from the sun, and likely even further.

But a majority of the largest known asteroids, comets and other large objects that lie beyond Neptune's orbit are contained within the Kuiper Belt, which stretches between 30 and 50 AU from the sun. 

Famous residents of the Kuiper Belt include the dwarf planet Pluto and the double-lobed object Arrokoth — the most distant object visited by a spacecraft. Planet Nine, if it exists, would also lurk somewhere within the Kuiper Belt. 

Until now, very few massive objects in the solar system have been found beyond the Kuiper Belt.  READ MORE...

Avenging Pluto

Rest easy, old friendPhoto: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

You know the old tagline: In space, no one can hear you scream. Unfortunately, being stuck on this rapidly warming rock of ours, we can hear everyone screaming just fine—especially those yowling about the particularities of space itself, ironically.

Last we checked in on our demoted pal, Pluto, it was still most certainly not a planet, despite a decade-and-a-half’s worth of grousing from overly invested astronomy fans (welcome to the world of pop culture, astronomy fans). And even though the man responsible for snatching away its designation in the first place tried to make it up to everyone recently, the fact remains that it is still highly unlikely the International Astronomical Union will backtrack on its 2006 decision.

Perhaps it’s the knowledge of this near hopeless case that recently prompted a group of scientists to apparently throw up their hands and give their go-for-broke demand of “Screw it. We don’t just want Pluto back, we want another 150 goddamn planets added to the list.”

That’s the gist of a new article published in the research journal Icarus, arguing that the IAU are the real jabronis here, goddamnit. As NBC News breaks it down, the team of scientists allege that the current planetary classification system is based more on outdated astrological (read: pseudoscientific) terminologies, and should be updated to reflect the modern age.  READ MORE...