In our last installment, we looked at the trans-Neptunian object (TNO) Niku, and its nearly perpendicular, retrograde orbit. Although such objects are rare, there are others—in fact, we know of six so far. One in particular, Drac, is often mentioned in the same breath with Niku because their orbital paths are similar in some ways….
2008 KV42: “Drac”
28th December 2018Niku: Going Against the Flow
21st November 2018In general, objects in our solar system all orbit in the same direction. When viewed from the celestial North pole, that direction is counter-clockwise. Most celestial bodies in our solar system also orbit in roughly the same plane, and most astronomers think this is due to angular forces present when the solar system was formed….
The Goblin and Planet 9
17th October 2018“Mary’s violet eyes make Johnny stay up nights pondering.” This mnemonic sentence, or something like it, may have been the way you learned the order of the planets (or “My very excellent mother just served us noodles,” if you learned it in the post-Pluto era). The young students of today, however, may have to work…