I can't imagine much visibility out of that helmet

The solar system appears to have a new ninth planet. Today, two scientists announced evidence that a body nearly the size of Neptune—but as yet unseen—orbits the sun every 15,000 years. During the solar system’s infancy 4.5 billion years ago, they say, the giant planet was knocked out of the planet-forming region near the sun. Slowed down by gas, the planet settled into a distant elliptical orbit, where it still lurks today.

The claim is the strongest yet in the centuries-long search for a “Planet X” beyond Neptune. The quest has been plagued by far-fetched claims and even outright quackery. But the new evidence comes from a pair of respected planetary scientists, Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, who prepared for the inevitable skepticism with detailed analyses of the orbits of other distant objects and months of computer simulations. “If you say, ‘We have evidence for Planet X,’ almost any astronomer will say, ‘This again? These guys are clearly crazy.’ I would, too,” Brown says. “Why is this different? This is different because this time we’re right.”

Outside scientists say their calculations stack up and express a mixture of caution and excitement about the result. “I could not imagine a bigger deal if—and of course that’s a boldface ‘if’—if it turns out to be right,” says Gregory Laughlin, a planetary scientist at the University of California (UC), Santa Cruz. “What’s thrilling about it is [the planet] is detectable.”

Batygin and Brown inferred its presence from the peculiar clustering of six previously known objects that orbit beyond Neptune. They say there’s only a 0.007% chance, or about one in 15,000, that the clustering could be a coincidence. Instead, they say, a planet with the mass of 10 Earths has shepherded the six objects into their strange elliptical orbits, tilted out of the plane of the solar system.

The orbit of the inferred planet is similarly tilted, as well as stretched to distances that will explode previous conceptions of the solar system. Its closest approach to the sun is seven times farther than Neptune, or 200 astronomical units (AUs). (An AU is the distance between Earth and the sun, about 150 million kilometers.) And Planet X could roam as far as 600 to 1200 AU, well beyond the Kuiper belt, the region of small icy worlds that begins at Neptune’s edge about 30 AU.

If Planet X is out there, Brown and Batygin say, astronomers ought to find more objects in telltale orbits, shaped by the pull of the hidden giant. But Brown knows that no one will really believe in the discovery until Planet X itself appears within a telescope viewfinder. “Until there’s a direct detection, it’s a hypothesis—even a potentially very good hypothesis,” he says. The team has time on the one large telescope in Hawaii that is suited for the search, and they hope other astronomers will join in the hunt.

Quote from: Connor on January 19, 2016, 09:09:09 PM

Quote from: Decimator Omega on January 19, 2016, 09:08:27 PM

Quote from: Connor on January 19, 2016, 09:05:55 PM

Quote from: Decimator Omega on January 19, 2016, 08:59:49 PM

Quote from: Connor on January 19, 2016, 08:52:42 PM

On a slightly different note, I've had sleep paralysis maybe twice in my entire life, and I'm not sure I've ever been more fucking terrified.

So that's what its called.

Wait, do you even know what I'm talking about

A temporary inability to move or speak while falling asleep or upon waking.

That happened to me while I woke up. It was terrifying. Am I wrong? Is that what you're not talking about?

No, that's what I meant, I just had no idea if you knew what I meant, I didn't really give any context clues.

Wait so that never happened to you? You're beginning to confuse me.

Quote from: Connor on January 19, 2016, 05:43:25 PM

I tend to think of myself as below-average in most areas, to be honest.

Was that before of after you heard about this kind of bias though?

Quote from: Turkey Sanders on January 19, 2016, 05:38:29 PM

You recognize that fun is a necessity for survival -- a psychological mechanism to allow our body to reduce stress, recover, and socialize (and I mean that in a broad anthropological sense, not just 'talking') -- and yet you continue to say it's wrong for some reason. I know you're not one to back down especially after being coaxed throughout this entire thread, but I think you can still make a strong, cogent argument for the detrimental effects of alcohol while dropping the point that fun is wrong.

I don't think I ever said that fun was wrong. All I said was that it's stupid. If I said it was "wrong," then I rescind.