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First Oort Cloud Object May Have Been Discovered
SpuriousLogic alerts us to the discovery of what may be the first object ever discovered from the inner edge of the Oort cloud. 2006 SQ372 was found on images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Its discoverers theorize that this comet-like object and the planetoid Sedna, first spotted in 2003, might be Oort denizens. Sedna is in a stable orbit but 2006 SQ372 has been perturbed by the gravity of Uranus and/or Neptune, simulations suggest, so its orbital history is unknowable. 2006 SQ372 will travel out to 1,600 AU on this orbit, making it the most distant solar-system object yet found. The Oort cloud is believed to extend ten times that far, or about a quarter of a light-year. "Theoretical models of the formation of the Oort Cloud predict that it should also host a massive inner part, but comets from this region never make it near Earth. To see the long-period comets from the inner region of the Oort Cloud requires observing comets whose orbits always stay well outside Saturn's orbit — like 2006 SQ372."
the planetoid Sedna
Wouldn't that be a plutoid?
If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
The total mass is probably much larger than the mass of its larger objects. Remember the Oort cloud is supposed to be very large and, thus, very sparse. You can have a couple solar systems worth of mass out there and it would still look like a pretty good vacuum. There would be no distant Jupiter (not a hot one, at least) and no dark star, but that would not preclude the total mass of the cloud from exceeding the mass of the rest of the solar system.
To put it simply, nobody knows its mass and all estimates amount to not much more than educated guesses. I tend to guess it has a lot of mass, but we won't have a good clue until later this century, at least.
http://www.dieblinkenlights.com
Incorrect. He did not say there were "Jupiter-sized" or even "Earth-sized" objects.
He Said: "... SUM of the mass of oort cloud objects is far more than the mass of the sun and all the planets. "
What you are saying is totally different. We KNOW with (reasonable) confidence there are no Jupiter sized objects in the Oort. We believe with (somewhat reasonable) confidence there is no Earth sized object in the Oort (although there is so much out there, I wouldn't bet on it).
What he said is the sum of all the smaller objects in the Oort IS greater mass then what is in our known solar system. This can not be proven yet, but it is very probable that he is correct.
You are both correct - you just misunderstood his statement.
I said "planetary mass." I didn't specify a planet. Mercury is a planet. A Mercury sized object could be out there somewhere. Mercury isn't the lower limit on planetary masses either - it's just the smallest one we have now that Pluto is demoted.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
If you could show there's an Alpha Centaurian snow-ball making machine flinging comets into our solar system, then the need for the Oort cloud vanishes. However, until you do, you should expect people to scoff at such a theory and pick something that actually seems plausible.
At the moment, the Oort cloud is the most plausible, and the alternatives (like the extra-solar snow-ball flinger, or the even less plausible exploding planet) are ignored. This is as it should be.
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."