Does anyone have information on what this article is saying?

Question

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1336540/Massive-dark-object-lurking-edge-solar-hurling-comets-Earth.html

Basically a huge planet larger than Jupiter and perhaps a lightyear away is affecting objects in the Oort belt and slingshotting them toward Earth.

With a slightly different inflection, but whatever.

The article caught my interest in that someone tried to post in the Global Warming section that this object would make a pass-by of Earth in 2012, which is as I pointed out to him completely absurd:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AtZyx7zvk2szBA1xVzFs0jv_5nNG;_ylv=3?qid=20101208171652AATaRHV

Aside from that disinformation spouted off on that topic though, since most of the users here are probably more in the loop than I am regarding such "theories" as this, could someone comment or find the base source for this idea proposed here? The article cited Icarus, but I could not find any information with a quick Google search regarding the journal and this supposed publication.

Also, what are the credentials of John Matese and Daniel Whitmire?

Answer 1

Yet another "discovery" dealing with something we studied years ago.

A Japanese team had concluded, over a decade ago (following a statistical study of whatever few Oort cloud and Kuiper belt objects knows at the time) that there should be one or two more planets (real ones, not snowballs the size of Pluto) left to be discovered.



The article you cite is based on a paper published in 1999, a few years after the Japanese results.



It simply say that the present distribution of lop-sided orbits COULD be explained by the presence of a large planet (this is not difficult to believe, especially in light of the earlier Japanese results); the part that might be pushing it ever so slightly is the "could be larger than Jupiter" and the sprinkling of "may" throughout the article.



The authors were still pushing the idea of a brown dwarf. This has pretty well been dropped, as a brown dwarf at such a short distance from us would have been detected with the latest infra-red telescopes (we can detect brown dwarfs that small at hundreds of light-years).



Also, our modern understanding of brown dwarf would not have accepted their "putative" object with a mass of only 50% bigger than Jupiter as a brown dwarf. Given the super-Jupiters found around other stars, this object -- if it exists at all -- would just be a fat-jupiter.



Icarus is a professional astronomy journal. It is reliable and the papers are peer-reviewed. Therefore the information is reliable and the data would have been checked to make sure that others also see the same kinds of distributions of orbits (for example). It does represent the information as it was known at the time. Careful reading of the paper itself would probably reveal that the article by the Mail online contains a few... how could we say politely... enhancements.



The world of astronomy has abandoned the idea of a brown dwarf that close to us. The idea that there could still be one or two large planets out there is still valid.



The posting linking this to 2012 is, of course, ludicrous. However, the charlatan behind the Big 2012 Hoax have always liked the "Brown Dwarf" scenario.



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(From a search using Scholar.Google.com)



Icarus, Volume 141, Issue 2, October 1999, Pages 354-366



Cometary Evidence of a Massive Body in the Outer Oort Clouds



J. J. Matese1, P. G. Whitman and D. P. Whitmire



Department of Physics, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, 70504-4210, f1

Received 9 September 1998;

revised 11 March 1999.

Available online 2 April 2002.



Abstract



Approximately 25% of the 82 new class I Oort cloud comets have an anomalous distribution of orbital elements that can best be understood if there exists a bound perturber in the outer Oort cloud. Statistically significant correlated anomalies include aphelia directions, energies, perihelion distances, and signatures of the angular momentum change due to the Galaxy. The perturber, acting in concert with the galactic tide, causes these comets to enter the loss cylinder—an interval of Oort cloud comet perihelion distances in the planetary region which is emptied by interactions with Saturn and Jupiter. More concisely, the impulse serves to smear the loss cylinder boundary inward along the track of the perturber. Thus it is easier for the galactic tide to make these comets observable. A smaller number of comets are directly injected by the impulsive mechanism. We estimate that the perturber–comet interactions take place at a mean distance of ≈25,000 AU. The putative brown dwarf would have a mass of 3 / 2 MJupiter and an orbit whose normal direction is within 5° of the galactic midplane. This object would not have been detected in the IRAS database, but will be detectable in the next generation of planet/brown dwarf searches, including SIRTF. It is also possible that its radio emissions would make it distinguishable in sensitive radio telescopes such as the VLA.



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bound perturber = object in orbit around our Sun, massive enough to cause perturbations in the Oort cloud.



They did take into account the tidal perturbations due to the Galaxy



loss cylinder = a zone of lesser density, in the Oort cloud, where objects are moved away because of periodic interference by Jupiter and Saturn (there are equivalent "gaps" in the main asteroid belt).



VLA = Very Large Array, a set of many radio-telescopes linked together to enhance their performance.

Answer 2

Real scientists supported by NASA at a reputable University.



However, a quick google search on their names shows they have been banging on about this for years: see e.g.



ACM2005 - IAU Symposium No. 229

Proceedings IAU Symposium No. 229, 2006

A.C. Editor, B.D. Editor & C.E. Editor, eds.

°c 2006 International Astronomical Union

DOI: 00.0000/X000000000000000X

A wide-binary solar companion as a possible

origin of Sedna-like objects

John J. Matese1, Daniel P. Whitmire1 and Jack J. Lissauer2



Hypothetical piled on hypothetical.



But why is this in the Daily Moron today? [If there is a good reason, the sciencedaily and spacedaily sites I subscribe to will no doubt tell me]



Update Friday PM: nothing on Sciencedaily or Sigma Xi's daily Science News. I think this is a stale story, and that the Moron is just living up to its name again.

Answer 3

The idea that a massive planet or small star periodically distorts the Oort cloud and sends more than the usual number of comets into the inner solar system is not new. But there is still little or no evidence to prove it.

Answer 4

The first sentence is very important.

"A massive dark object MAY be lurking on the edge of our solar system, according to scientists."

MAY be there.



"new calculations suggest a large object that is up to four times as big as Jupiter COULD be responsible for sending (comets) in our direction".

COULD be responsible for sending comets towards the inner solar system.



"Scientists have analysed the comets in the Oort cloud and deduced that 25 per-cent of them would need a nudge by a body of at least Jupiter size before they changed orbit."

Hardly definitive proof the object actually exists.



The article is speculative, there is at present no proof. Not to say that something large could indeed be in the Kuiper Belt.



The authors:

http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~jjm9638/

http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Whitmire_Daniel_14040351.aspx

Answer 5

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