Fed2 Star - the newsletter for the space trading game Federation 2

The weekly newsletter for Fed2
by ibgames

EARTHDATE: June 29, 2014

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REAL LIFE NEWS: ANOTHER GIANT DWARF LURKS BEYOND PLUTO

by Hazed

What is it with these possible giant planets lurking beyond Pluto? First we were told there was no Planet X, then they said there was one, and now there may be two of them out there.

This time it’s a team of astronomers from Spain which has been looking at the orbits of distant bodies that are known to reside beyond Pluto. These small objects have strange orbits which hint that other larger bodies are influencing their movements. This is how the supposition of one giant body being out there was formed.

Now an analysis of the bizarre orbits of the bodies has shown additional patterns which are puzzling, and could only be explained by a larger object “shepherding” them to create a pattern known as orbital resonance. There’s a detailed explanation of the physics at the source link below.

Proving the existence of these bodies is not going to be easy because they would be dim and slow moving, which makes it hard to spot them with current telescopes. Perhaps we’ll have to wait until we can go and see for ourselves.

Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25711-two-giant-planets-may-cruise-unseen-beyond-pluto.html#.U5oe5_ldW14

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