A planet beyond Pluto. Possible?

Question

1. Is it possible that there is a planet beyond Pluto?

Maybe, the size of Jupiter or Earth? Maybe another gas giant?

2. Let's pretend there was a big planet discovered beyond Pluto this year.

What would astronomers do & what would you think? I'd get excited.

Answer 1

There are other dwarf planets in the our solar system other than Pluto!

Answer 2

First of all this object would have to be found in the Kupiter belt which is an asteroid belt... and the IAU (international astronomy union) won't call anything in an asteroid belt a planet. If it did, Pluto would be called a planet. We have observed objects far out in the Kupiter belt that are smaller than Pluto. If there was a planet as big as Jupiter there, we'd know by two ways... we would be able to spot it, and the gravity would cause it to mess up the orbits. So Jupiter sized planet is out.

Earth sized planet is unlikely too. Not because we would detect it through orbit, but because we would've seen it by now.

But there are probably hundreds of bodies with about the same mass, or even less mass than Pluto, and are large enough to be spherical. They will be classified as "plutoids" which is a sub-classification of a "dwarf planet".

Answer 3

It is unbelievably unlikely that anything that falls in the current definition of a planet exists out there.

It is very likely that there are more Dwarf Planet type objects (like Eris, Quaoar or numerous others we already know about)

If there was a big planet out there, it should reflect enough light that we would have seen it by now!

Consequently, the second part of your question is pointless...

Answer 4

I doubt it.

Answer 5

If you have a definition of planet that can include Pluto, then there already are planets discovered farther out than Pluto.

If you use the current International Astronomical Union definition, then such a planet must "clear it's orbital region".  It's not clear that a Jupiter at 50 AU could do that.  I'd welcome it.  I'm not happy with the IAU definition.

We might yet find something the size of Mars or the Earth out there.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope has broken ground.  In a few years, it will go on line.  It will image the entire sky down to 25th magnitude every three days.  It's alot of data, but computers will be able to search for distant orbiting objects relatively soon.

Answer 6

It is quite possible. Follow Bode-Titius' law. Gap between successive pair of planets keep increasing. This makes the perturbation methods by which Neptuen is discovered rather difficult to locate it. If the planet (hypothetical) is Jupiter's size or bigger it would be easier. Even Neptune sized is OK. Anything smaller makes it extermely difficult to spot.

All these indicate that there is none 'there'. It is difficult to hazard a guess as to what more is required by way of planet hunter's gear to succeed. Further, IAU has laid down the norms for a 'planet' (for the first time in human history!). We can discover, label and track hundreds of asteroid-like rocks, planetoids but none would be interested in them, other than astronomers.

Answer 7

In a literal sense, there are probably millions of planets beyond Pluto. In other gallaxies and such

Answer 8

Yep, there is another "planet" beyond Pluto, (it's bigger, and has it's own moon, just like Pluto) only it's not called a "planet", it's called a dwarf planet---it was "discovered" by Mike Brown, a scientist (an astronomer, I believe) out of California, and it did "touch off" all the hoopla about the difference between a "planet" and a "dwarf planet."  But that's all it did, and nothing else.  

Okay, for the sake of argument, let's say there was another "planet", the size of Jupiter, beyond Pluto.  And there are!!!!  There are "things" called exo-planets located about other stars (suns) out yonder, beyond Pluto!  

This is a given, approximately 300 have already been "found" and they are mostly what's called "hot" Jupiter's (that is to say, they orbit so close to their sun that they are boiling hot all the time, ie 51pegasib), or they have such highly elliptical orbits that they come very close to their sun then they go so far away from it that they can't help but be cold (unless the wind they produce is so fast that they stay just as hot on the side that's away from their sun, as is the other side).  Then there are the ones that orbit a neutron star!  

Most of the "planets" are small and very hard to see (due to the fact that they are so very far away), but it is thought that they orbit about a brown dwarf star, or whatever, so I think you are correct!  Go ahead and be "curions", cause that's another way to "learn".  Asking questions, etc., etc.

Answer 9

1 - well, it's a technical issue, but there are *objects* larger than Pluto that lie beyond - but they're not considered "Planets" - they're considered "Kuiper Belt Objects", which Pluto is a member of.  However, if an object the size of Earth or larger were among them, I'm fairly confident we'd have seen them by now.

2 - I'm sure they'd be very excited.  When Sedna was discovered in 2002, there was a big shake-up in Astronomy, and that's when the decision was made to demote Pluto to a "Kuiper Belt Object."  

Answer 10

yes, they are called sedna and xena