THE SUN what's on the other side?

Question

Could there be any planets or moons in a exact opposite orbit to us on the other side of the sun? trapped in an orbit that we cannot see. we go around the sun this i know.

Answer 1

We are not in the same position relative to the sun. All planets, including Earth, orbit the sun completely. That means they go completely around the sun once every year (by “year” I don’t mean 365 days, I mean the amount of time it takes for a particular planet to orbit the sun which varies based on position). So if there was another planet, we would have seen it. Its not like we are sitting directly in front of the sun at all times, though it may seem that way. We are moving around the sun as we speak… all planets are.

So no.

Answer 2

Ok, so there could be another planet with the same orbit as Earth's but on the other side of the sun. Having said that, there have been many studies of the motions of the other planets and we definitely would have noticed the gravitational effects of any planet on the other side of the sun. If a planet was there it would alter any other planets orbit enough to be measurable from Earth.

We have never measured any such effects, so it is not likely that there is another planet there.

Hope that helps :-)

Answer 3

Nothing, if something was orbiting at the same speed it would have to be the exact same distance from the sun, which just doesn't happen.

Answer 4

I think their gravitational fields would effect the other planets, asteroids and comets that pass that part of the solar system so that even if we couldn't see them, we would see their effect and know that they are there.

Wasn't there a Twilight Zone episode about an astronaut who traveled around the sun and was surprised to find that he arrived back in half the time. Only to discover that the planet was an exact mirror image?

Answer 5

June 23, 1999: Scientists have found that they can peek around the Sun and predict whether solar storms on its far side will shortly appear on the side facing the Earth. This surprising discovery by SOHO's SWAN instrument could help to predict the solar storms that sometimes threaten the Earth.

SWAN, short for Solar Wind Anisotropies, is a telescope on board SOHO that can map the whole sky in ultraviolet light. This kind of observation is impossible from Earth because the atmosphere completely filters short-wavelength UV rays. A European team of scientists headed by Jean Loup Bertaux, of the CNRS Service d'Aronomie in France, have discovered an ingenious way to use SWAN's UV mapping capabilities to infer what's on the far side of the Sun.

Answer 6

possibly, or where would the 'aliens' we hear about come from? maybe there is a 'mirror universe' and our duplicates living out their lives.

Answer 7

maybe, if not tho theres prob just loads more space?

Answer 8

The idea that there's an earth-like planet orbiting the sun once a year, exactly opposite to us, therefore always behind the sun, is an interesting one and has, I believe, been used as the subject for a science-fiction movie (I can't think of the title for the moment). In reality, such a planet would give itself away by it's gravitational pull on other planets, which we would notice. Also, spacecraft sent from earth to other planets would have spotted it. However, a solar system containing two opposite planets would be gravitationally unstable and they would end up colliding or one of them being moved to a different orbit or ejected from the system.

Answer 9

No, it's simply not possible.  If there were another planet in an exact opposite orbit to us, then the calculations we have done for planetary motion in our solar system would be incorrect - and, as yet, they do not appear to be (or at least, they are correct enough to suggest that there is no planet in an exact opposite orbit to us).  This is because another planet, even on the other side of the sun, would affect the orbits of all other planets.

Intriguingly, the orbit of Neptune actually defies mathematical logic regarding gravity.  When scientists discovered Neptune in 1846, they noticed that its orbit was incorrect and hypothesised that there must be a ninth planet in the solar system.  When Pluto was discovered in 1930, they were hopeful that this would provide the answer - unfortunately, it did not.  Pluto was too small to affect Neptune's orbit to the extent seen.  Again, astronomers hypothesised that there was a tenth planet in the solar system.  

I'm unsure whether Eris (a dwarf planet orbiting the Sun, further from it than Pluto) explains this discrepancy.  Either way, it definately isn't caused by an Earth-like planet on exactly the other side of the Sun from us.  Any planet on exactly the other side would affect the orbits of ALL planets, not just Neptune, so unfortunately the theory doesn't hold water.

Excellent question, though.  Very interesting proposal.

Answer 10

there is life on the sun, how else would they be able to keep it burning for so long if it wasnt for the sun people stoking up the furnace to keep it going, if all the coal had been put on at once it would have gone out years ago, the sun people stoke it up all the time