"Discovery of 'Goblin' Solar System Object Bolsters...." Topic

…. the Case for Planet Nine.

"Astronomers have discovered an object, dubbed "the Goblin," in the outer reaches of the Solar System. The dwarf planet never gets any closer to the Sun than 6 billion miles, but experts say its orbital configuration points to the existence of a much larger, more distant planet —the elusive Planet Nine.

The Goblin, or 2015 TG38 as it's more formally called, is what's known as an extreme trans-Neptunian object, or ETNO. As the moniker implies, these objects, of which there are potentially thousands, are located well beyond the orbit of Neptune. What's remarkable is not that the Goblin exists, but that astronomers were actually able to detect it…."

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Amicalement
Armand

We have a Planet Nine, it is called Pluto.

Dave

How large do they expect "Goblin" to be?

I believe they think it is smaller than Pluto, although it is hard to get much data from it.

Thanks. Amazed that they found it.

What is telling is that they first found it in 2015, but it took more than two years to collect enough data to announce anything meaningful. How many of them are just not in the right position to see at all? Probably a lot.

Agree!.

Amicalement
Armand

What is telling is that they first found it in 2015, but it took more than two years to collect enough data to announce anything meaningful

Ya, most likely due to the extremely elongated elliptical orbit it has. As it's a small dwarf planet (whatever that means) it's probably only noticeable now at parahelion and will be invisible for most of its 40,000 year orbit.

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How many of them are just not in the right position to see at all? Probably a lot.

Especially with orbits of tens of thousands of years…..or ones even longer.

Question is: where is Goblin in it's orbit now? Bet it's darned close.