Mystery Object detected out by Neptune

[lsemmens]

It is orbiting BACKWARDS!

The video at the end is an interesting watch, too. (Takes about an hour)

[mkhannah]

Trash...please explain.

[Skepticist]

Doesn't the reverse orbit direction imply that this object has been 'captured' by the sun's gravity IE it's not from this solar system but has had the good fortune (so far) to not encounter any 'native' objects in its path? I wouldn't expect its orbit to be at all circular if that is the case.

[lsemmens]

Give it time, it will either slow down and the orbit will decay (big bang in the future), or it will continue to give trash and other "scientists" a headache trying to work out what it is. FWIW it's probably a Klingon that got flicked off Uranus.

[gordon_s1942]

FWIW it's probably a Klingon that got flicked off Uranus.

That could be a just the job for John Luke Picard to find out whose.

[Al Bundy]

You wouldn't happen to mean Jean-Luc by any chance, or are you referring to a distant relative (literally).

[lsemmens]

Time for a little

[trash]

That will be Niku. 2011-KT19
It's in a retrograde orbit inclined by 110 degrees.
It certainly would not have been there long in astronomical terms and it won't be staying there for very long in those same terms of time.
The tidal influence of the sun and the planets will pull it back towards the ecliptic plane of the solar system.

It's very unlikely to be an extra solar object. Instead the most likely explanation is that it go a gravitational kick (slingshot) from another object.
Niku is only small. About 200km in diameter so anything out there with a reasonable amount of mass could change it's orbit dramatically.
It's retrograde orbit isn't anything too strange. There are other retrograde objects out there like Drac.
What is unusual is that there so far six trans-neptunian objects which roughly share the same orbital plane both retrograde and prograde.
That is weird, it ranks about a "6" on my weird shit-o-meter.

A quick check to what wikipedia has to say about it, and they're giving it a probability of about 1 in 10,000.
Much better than me picking 3 numbers in lotto.

Anyhow, what that means is that something might be holding them in that orbit, but more likely I just think it is co-incidence.
It's not unlike, but not the same as the kuiper belt objects that seem to hint at a ninth planet.

So astronomers will be out looking for more objects in that orbital plane. If they find them, then something that isn't the planet nine suspect might be out there in a weird orbit.

What is interesting though is that I've joined my local astronomy club. I don't have a lot to do with them but for some reason they seem to think I have some kind of talent.
I think it's more that I'm younger than the old guys and I don't care about their politics.
I was playing with the 32 inch telescope on monday night for shits and giggles. Pluto was right beside the moon, so how could I pass up such an opportunity to have a peak at it.
I've never been much one for actually looking into telescopes.

They have a couple of even bigger telescopes. One of which is one of these and I've been asked to help get it working.


One of the tasks that particular "camera" is well suited to doing is searching for asteroids and comets.
It's early days for the project yet. It's got a long way to go before it's ready to operate.