-
-
- The planet Neptune was discovered in 1846. It is at the edge of our Solar System. Ever since then astronomers have been trying to discover more planets in the outer Solar System. Each planet’s orbit only makes sense when you account for all the mass that is perturbing it.
-
- In 1930 Percival Lowell claimed he had discovered “ Planet X”. It became “ Pluto”, after the Roman god of the underworld. Further study concluded that Pluto was too small to perturb Neptune’s orbit. The perturbations were later concluded to be incorrect estimates of masses involved. Some discoveries happen by accident.
-
- In 1978 the large moon orbiting Pluto was discovered. It became “Charon”. Pluto is 1,485 miles in diameter. Charon is 700 miles in diameter.
-
- In the 1990’s astronomers discovered more large “ planetary” bodies in the Kuiper Belt of asteroids. Now over 1,200 larger asteroids have been catalogued.
-
- In 2000 the Astronomical Society dubbed Pluto as a “ sub-planet”. Other ‘ sub-planet” discoveries include Quaoar, Orcus, Sedna, and Eris. Eris is likely larger than Pluto.
-
- In 2006 Pluto got re-categorized as a “ Dwarf Planet”. Leaving 8 real planets in our Solar System.
-
- Pluto is now thought to have 5 moons: Charon, Nix, Hydra, P4 and P5, yet to be named. With all of these orbiting bodies the entire system is near chaotic. The moon’s resonances are 3 to 1, 4 to 1, 5 to 1, and 6 to 1 but not exactly, off just 36 degrees for perfect resonances according to calculations.
-
- In 1998 a candidate for a Brown Dwarf star was first discovered. We have sub-planets called Dwarf Planets, and now sub-stars called Brown Dwarfs.
-
- In 1995 three more of these Brown Dwarfs were discovered. It is very difficult to distinguish a Brown Dwarf sub-star from a very low mass real star. The best test is to discover Lithium in the star’s spectrum.. Young small stars fuse Lithium for their first 100 million years after fusion starts. Brown Dwarfs can not produce fusion.
-
- Today, astronomers estimate our Galaxy contains 100 billion Brown Dwarfs. So, could the planet Jupiter be classified as a “ Brown Dwarf” or a “ failed star”. In 1610 Galileo discovered moons orbiting Jupiter liking it to a mini-solar system.
-
- Jupiter is 88,846 miles in diameter at its equator. It has a mass 2.5 times greater than all the other planets combined. 1,321 Earths could fit inside Jupiter.
-
- Jupiter has no solid surface. Its small rocky core is enclosed in a shell of metallic hydrogen, surrounded by a shell of liquid hydrogen, surrounded by a shell of gaseous hydrogen. The atmosphere of Jupiter is 90% hydrogen and 10% helium, pretty much the same as our Sun.
-
- Overall this size and composition makes Jupiter very similar to Brown Dwarf stars, or sub-stars. If Jupiter had a little more mass it would have started fusion and our Solar System would have two suns, a double-star system. This is not likely to happen because Jupiter would need to increase its mass by 75 times to become a star.
-
- To become a Brown Dwarf Jupiter would need to increase its mass by only 13 times.
-
- All things considered Jupiter remains a gas-planet and not a “ failed star”. So we have 8 planets and an untold number of Dwarf Planets to discover beyond Neptune. Stay tuned there is still more to learn.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------- RSVP, Pass it on to whomever is interested. ----------------
--- Some reviews are at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
-- email comments, corrections, request for copies or Index of all reviews
- to: ------- jamesdetrick@comcast.net ------ “Jim Detrick” -----------
- https://plus.google.com/u/0/ -- www.facebook.com -- www.twitter.com
----- 707-536-3272 ---------------------- Sunday, April 26, 2015 -----
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment