Weird Object in Strange Orbit Located on Far Side of Neptune / Our Solar System just Got Weirder! (+Video)

Weird Object In Strange Orbit Located On Far Side Of Neptune / Our Solar System just Got Weirder!

Scientists have discovered a mysterious planet in a strange orbit beyond Neptune on the outer edge of the solar system.

Nicknamed Niku, it appears to be a trans-Neptunian object and it has got scientists baffled.

Niku, named after Chinese word for ‘Rebel’, has a diameter of just 200km (120 miles), is 160,000-times fainter than Neptune and behaves like no other similarly-sized planet in the Solar System.

This trans-Neptunian object orbits the Sun in a retrograde direction, meaning it rotates in the opposite direction to the Sun’s rotation. The angle it takes for this unusual orbit is at 110 degrees to the flat plane of the Solar System, on which other planets move around the Sun.
And that means it’s currently above the plane and rising higher but will eventually cross over, dropping below the plane as it continues its orbit. The fact that its orbit is retrograde was likely caused by a collision with an unknown mass or a gravitational pull by a mystery force.

Matthew Holman of Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics was among the team of scientists who discovered Niku and admits this phenomenon throws up many questions.

He said: “It suggests there’s more going on in the outer Solar System than we’re fully aware of.”

Read more here:
RT  http://on.rt.com/7md9

ArXiv.org
http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.01808

ScienceAlert.com
http://tinyurl.com/zul7whe

Clips, images credit: ESO, ESA/HUBBLE & NASA

Music credit: YouTube Audio Library