Special Universe Talk: Planet IX: Evidence for a trans-Kuiper-Belt planet?

by Thomas Müller (MPE)

Wednesday 24 Feb 2016, 10:00 → 11:00 Europe/Berlin

seminar room (Excellence Cluster Universe, Boltzmannstrasse 2, Garching)

So far, no planet has been found beyond the Kuiper Belt in our Solar System. But there are indications that a Neptune-size object with a perihelion distance of about 200-350 AU might still await its discovery. Batygin & Brown (AJ 151, 22, 2016) have used a combination of computer simulations and observations of distant objects to explain the unusual clustering of objects in the scattered disk population of the Kuiper Belt via gravitational effects of a giant planet. We will take a closer look at these exotic trans-Neptunian objects, the indications for planet IX, and possibilities to find it (or not).