NationStates Jolt Archive

Ok, I really want your honest opinions about this:
I am taking an astronomy class at my college. One day as my professor was bumbling on, he had a picture of the Earth's orbit around the sun. My mind was wandering and I stumbled upon this thought: would it be possible for a planet to be on the exact opposite orbit as earth (on the opposite side of the sun?

Check this picture out and just imagine that we are at March 20. Could there be another planet at the date of September 22?
http://cs.clark.edu/~mac/meteor/seasons.gif

Ok, I really want your honest opinions about this:
I am taking an astronomy class at my college. One day as my professor was bumbling on, he had a picture of the Earth's orbit around the sun. My mind was wandering and I stumbled upon this thought: would it be possible for a planet to be on the exact opposite orbit as earth (on the opposite side of the sun?

Check this picture out and just imagine that we are at March 20. Could there be another planet at the date of September 22?
http://cs.clark.edu/~mac/meteor/seasons.gif

OMFG GENIUS

We'd know about it. The gravity doesn't lie. If you can't see an object, you look at the forces it inerts, eg a blackhole.

No, it's not possible. On top of the fact that we've sent probes off the eliptical and they've seen into that area of space and found nothing there, the gravitational effects of another planet would be visable even if the planet was not, but there are none.

I think if it hasn't happened in the 4.6 billion years of existance, it's not gonna happen now

We'd know about it. The gravity doesn't lie. If you can't see an object, you look at the forces it inerts, eg a blackhole.

So you think we would've found it already even though it's hiding behind the sun?

Are you asking if it would be possible for such a phenomenon to exist somewhere or are you asing if it would be possible for it to exist here and now?

Are you asking if it would be possible for such a phenomenon to exist somewhere or are you asing if it would be possible for it to exist here and now?
:shock:

OMFG 1818!

Are you asking if it would be possible for such a phenomenon to exist somewhere or are you asing if it would be possible for it to exist here and now?

here and now.

So you think we would've found it already even though it's hiding behind the sun?

we now can find planets orbiting different suns, so i'm pretty sure that it would be fairly trivial to notice another big close planet orbitting our own.

Are you asking if it would be possible for such a phenomenon to exist somewhere or are you asing if it would be possible for it to exist here and now?

here and now.Well, I still don't know the answer, but if it could exist, it would be very poetic.

The short answer is no. With our level of technology, we would be able to detect a planet on the opposite side of the sun through multiple ways. First of all we have technology that allows os to detect gravitational pull of planetary bodies on the sun. That is one of the ways that NASA uses to detect incoming comets from the opposite side of the sun. There is also something called stellar wobble where an object say the size of a planet changes the tidal forces of the sun and thus the shape. That is how astronomers can detect planets around distant stars. Probes and Satellites would have picked up another planet a long time ago. Also not to mention the fact that when the solar system formed the accretion disk that surrounded the sun coalesced into rings around the sun first and then the asteroids and meteors coalesced into the planets as we now know them.

So you think we would've found it already even though it's hiding behind the sun?

we now can find planets orbiting different suns, so i'm pretty sure that it would be fairly trivial to notice another big close planet orbitting our own.

So you're saying there's basically no chance whatsoever then?

So you think we would've found it already even though it's hiding behind the sun?

we now can find planets orbiting different suns, so i'm pretty sure that it would be fairly trivial to notice another big close planet orbitting our own.

So you're saying there's basically no chance whatsoever then?

NO

So you think we would've found it already even though it's hiding behind the sun?

we now can find planets orbiting different suns, so i'm pretty sure that it would be fairly trivial to notice another big close planet orbitting our own.

So you're saying there's basically no chance whatsoever then?

NOIt would still be poetic if it existed, though. :lol:

actually, it happened to proto-earth. when our solar system was formed, there were some 20 proto planets. two crashed into each other and blew up. most of the debris reformed and created our earth and the rest believed to be our moon

We'd know about it. The gravity doesn't lie. If you can't see an object, you look at the forces it inerts, eg a blackhole.

So you think we would've found it already even though it's hiding behind the sun?

Nothing is 'hiding' behind our sun. And if anything is, we would know. Its kinda hard to miss when you've got the technology to look. Why else would we point our telescopes beyound the solar system?

The next mystery on the smaller scale, is what Electrons are made up of, for one thing. Do you think that means there are tiny galaxies hiding from us? :roll:

We'd know about it. The gravity doesn't lie. If you can't see an object, you look at the forces it inerts, eg a blackhole.

So you think we would've found it already even though it's hiding behind the sun?

Nothing is 'hiding' behind our sun. And if anything is, we would know. Its kinda hard to miss when you've got the technology to look. Why else would we point our telescopes beyound the solar system?

The next mystery on the smaller scale, is what Electrons are made up of, for one thing. Do you think that means there are tiny galaxies hiding from us? :roll:

quarks.

sorry, yeah quarks... I ment smaller. :oops:

hmm, i will put money on this one. There is nothing on the other side, you see that pic... does it show 2 planets

If it was to be there then it would ahve to be the exact same size as earth, if it were different it would throw off the orbit of earth and we would have been toast a few billion back

actually, it happened to proto-earth. when our solar system was formed, there were some 20 proto planets. two crashed into each other and blew up. most of the debris reformed and created our earth and the rest believed to be our moon

WRONG

The moon is either

a) Formed by a comet crashing into earth
b) Made of cheese

B! B! I know Its B!

To put this into perspective.

You are here:
http://www.bigear.org/urhere.gif

To put this into perspective.

You are here:
http://www.bigear.org/urhere.gif

Where are you :shock:

Ok, I really want your honest opinions about this:
I am taking an astronomy class at my college. One day as my professor was bumbling on, he had a picture of the Earth's orbit around the sun. My mind was wandering and I stumbled upon this thought: would it be possible for a planet to be on the exact opposite orbit as earth (on the opposite side of the sun?


Yup. Heard the idea before, many times....

Here is some figures someone worked out for it:

http://www.project1947.com/shg/condon/appndx-e.html