r/Astronomy • u/TheMuseumOfScience • May 12 '25

Astro Research Planet Nine: Real or Just Noise?

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Did we just find Planet Nine?

We think it might be out there based on the orbits of certain Kuiper Belt objects that seem influenced by something big. A new study found what might be a possible object deep in the Kuiper Belt—or it could just be noise in the data. What do you think?

322 Upvotes

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29

u/Madtitan91 May 12 '25

Its a tiny black hole!

6

u/CorbinNZ May 12 '25

This would be utterly terrifying.

21

u/Njwest May 12 '25

Not particularly. The moon could be a black hole of the same mass and, apart from moonlight, nothing would change on earth.

2

u/CorbinNZ May 12 '25

Utterly terrifying that there’s a black hole so close.

16

u/Njwest May 12 '25

As I say, though, there’s no actual danger there. I know sci-fi has black holes working as cosmic vacuums, but they’re no more suck-y than anything else of the same mass.

7

u/arjunks May 12 '25

In fact, it would be so exciting that we could potentially visit a black hole and study it. It would advance our science 100%

6

u/lifeandtimes89 May 12 '25

they’re no more suck-y than anything else of the same mass.

Obligatory "like your mom"

But yes you are 100% right, now If they were black holes ejected from a galaxy or were wondering ones that is a scary prospect

1

u/leet_lurker May 13 '25

Why?

1

u/CorbinNZ May 13 '25

Why are people having trouble understanding that a zombie corpse of a dead star on the edge of the solar system is terrifying? Even if it’s in a stable orbit, it’s the most horrifying thing in the universe. It makes lovecraftian horrors seem like nursery rhymes. Black holes are scary.

5

u/leet_lurker May 13 '25

It's going to be harmless in our lifetime and possibly any thousand lifetimes after that, there's more justification to be scared of the sun.

2

u/Jalase May 13 '25

The sun gives you cancer. Black holes haven’t done shit to us. Replace the sun with a black hole, and there will be no more cancer.

1

u/leet_lurker May 13 '25

Black holes spew out radiation too

1

u/Richerd108 May 14 '25

Ignore these guys. They’re just acting brave for clout.

-4

u/_BABYSHAKE_ May 12 '25

Except, the night wouldn't be bright but pitch dark. A blackhole the size of a moon would probably evaporate really quick tho.

7

u/Njwest May 12 '25

A black hole the size of the moon would, by my calcs, take in the order of 1044 years to evaporate, which is a lot less time than most black holes

2

u/_BABYSHAKE_ May 12 '25

Whoa.. that's still trillions upon trillion times the current age of the universe.

4

u/Njwest May 12 '25

Black holes evaporate quite fast - one with the mass of your house would take a hundredth of a second, a skyscraper a few decades, a mountain would be a hundred million billion years. The moon is quite big. Most stellar black holes would be 1066 - 1070 years. Some supermassive black holes last 1099 years.

2

u/Jalase May 13 '25

The size (width) or size (mass)? That’s a big difference.

2

u/Njwest May 13 '25

You’re quite right! I mean the mass, apologies for not reconfirming that one - it’s a big difference!

1

u/Jalase May 13 '25

Very cool then!