Thought you knew the solar system?

Think again
T H U R S D AY 27 MARCH 2014 The discovery of a new dwarf p ane! is "#s! !he a!es! reve a!ion ca#sin$ as!rono%ers !o !hin& a$ain a'o#! o#r en!ire so ar sys!e%( )*per!s !e Channe 4 +ews how !he new cos%ic order is shapin$ #p(

We are in the middle of an astronomical revolution. As the telescopes used to discover the sky get stronger, astronomers have been able to study the biggest and brightest objects in the furthest reaches of space - in "alien" solar systems, and among our own. And recent revelations paint a very different picture from the eight (or nine, depending on your views on luto! planet solar system most of us learned about at school.

,ha! we find is !ha! !he f#r!her o#! fro% !he s#n we are- !he weirder s!#ff $e!sAstronomer Alan "it#simmons, $ueen%s &niversity, 'elfast (he first major discovery to shake up our very own inter-planetary system was the discovery of the )uiper 'elt, back in *++,. 'efore then, the most significant discovery was the planet luto, in *+-.. (he )uiper 'elt lies just beyond the orbit of the planet /eptune, and was initially thought to contain one object, but astronomers have since discovered thousands of minor planetary bodies. 0t was the discovery of this icy belt, and the many more, smaller planets within it, that led to luto being demoted to "dwarf" status. Many %oons As observation continued, it emerged that some of these objects were very large1 this was the second most significant discovery to impact our solar system, says Alan "it#simmons, astronomer at the Astrophysics 2esearch 3entre at $ueen%s &niversity, 'elfast. "4ome of these objects are very interesting in their own right," he told 3hannel 5 /ews. ""or e6ample, many have their own moons." 'ut past the icy )uiper belt, past the "trans-/eptunian" region and beyond, the more murky our knowledge becomes. And as rofessor "it#simmons puts it1 "7enerally, what we find is that the further out from the sun we are, the weirder stuff gets." 8nly one object, 4edna, was known to e6ist here in the farthest regions - in the area known as the "inner 8ort cloud". 2ead more1 9aking waves, and other big scientific discoveries S#per ear!h. And this is where the new dwarf planet, : **-, is thought to lie. At 5;. kilometres wide, and made up of rock and ice, this new planet is the most

distant object discovered in our solar system, lying <. astronomical units from the sun at its closest approach. 'eyond this area, and outside of our own solar system, /asa%s )epler telescope has discovered over *,... planets much further away - including one that is *,... degrees 3elsius and rains glass. 'ut keplar is not designed for this kind of operation. (his is why the discovery of : **- is a big deal in itself. 'ut it is its orbit which is making waves across the astronomy community, because it hints at the e6istence of another large body = either one "super earth" planet, or a mass of smaller objects = that is also orbiting the sun. Along with the discovery of the 4edna planet a decade ago, these two new planets are a hugely significant discovery. "(here%s a group of objects out there in the distant reaches of solar system, and we don%t understand how we got there yet," says rofessor "it#simmons. "(his discovery of : **- is one of these objects, in that its orbit places it entirely outside the realm of the planets. And yet we believe they must have been put there somehow." /0o den a$e/ 9ark 'ailey 9'>, director of the Armagh 8bservatory, agrees that astronomy is in a "golden age", with new discoveries being made all the time. 'ut he urges "buckets of salt" when it comes to some of the large predictions that are made. "0 would urge you always to put on your sceptical hats," he told 3hannel 5 /ews. "What%s interesting about astronomy, is that so many discoveries have been une6pected."