what would happen if planet x really did exist and were to swing through our solar system?
I don’t actually believe in planet x, I’ve researched it enough to debunk it, but I’m curious, what would happen if such a thing did exist and came through our solar system? Assuming it did not collide with any other planets, Earth included, what else could happen? Would there be a gravitational upheaval, or a polar shift, could our moon be pulled out of it’s orbit?
Answer by Barcewaffle
Considering how unreliable and inconsistent the claims about these things are, it is difficult to answer. If a body of a size comparable to the other planets were to move through the solar system, I think it is unlikely that it would have any major effects other than providing something interesting at which astronomers could look.
Consider how much the Earth is affected by the movements of the other planets in the solar system – not at all. The liklihood of a huge body like this hitting the Earth is extremely small, everybody is aware of this. Similarly, even if some huge body did happen to move through the solar system, the liklihood of it being close enough to Earth to do anything other than be seen is extremely small.
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I think that all depends on its course, size, and speed. If it doesn’t pull the moon long enough, the moon will stay here.
What is for sure, however, is that it would most likely go slow enough to cause some change. It would be a radical change in our tides, day length, year length, etc.
Throw a wrench into a perfectly calibrated machine and watch the gears come flying
out. We can set our clocks by the precise
movements of the heavenly bodies of this
solar system, imagine planet x being that
wrench!
im calling bullshit on planet x
Help me, answer my question
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApLJ7ufXz38ES7RNKsFEys2w5HNG;_ylv=3?qid=20090806010259AAKnAQ4
What ever happened to good, solid questions about actual, non-hypothetical, scientific, astronomy questions? This is turning into some kind of demented blog!!!
There are too many “it depends” involved here to give a clear answer. If some large body passed through the inner solar system fairly quickly, it would have gravitational effects on the planets, but these effects would depend on how far away the object was. For instance, if it passed on the other side of the Sun from the Earth then there would be little effect on the Earth.
If it was roughtly the size of the Earth, it might have to get within several million miles to really do damage, further away than say 20 million miles we might hardly notice it at all.
Venus gets fairly close to the Earth pretty frequently and it does not have a lot of effect on us.
So it all depends what it passes near.
We would first of all need a new set of theories about gravity and physics, because the Planet X nonsense is violating extremely all known physical phenomena.
Planet X Does exist, we just cannot see it because it is on the opposite side of the Sun from the Earth, in exactly the same orbit, and therefore we can never know its effects on our planet.
It also has a moon exactly the same size as ours orbiting it, and both are made of Anti-Matter.
Well that is a good question, it is alleged that Planet X exists and has an orbit of 800 years around the Sun, It is also alleged that Planet X caused orbital disturbances such as some scientists believing that Pluto is an escaped Moon of Neptune, even though Ploto has it’s own moons.
Science is full of hypothetical scenarios, so I’ll answer yours.
The Solar System is in a delicate balance. The interactions of all the gravities of all the planets in the Solar System have acted in the same way for billions of years.
The only known large-scale event like the one you are imagining that ever is known to have happened is when a Mars-sized planet smashed into the primordial Earth, the result being the Earth-Moon system.
Now there are hints that other cataclysmic celestial events have also happened – mainly the axial tilt of Uranus being almost 90 degrees, which could have been caused by a transit of a large body, and by the slow retrograde motion of Venus, unique in the Solar System, but possibly due to gravitational influence from the Sun.
So, that’s the scientific basis for what might happen.
If a planet sized object were to pass through the inner Solar System, it could impact a planet, causing a massive conflagration, creating a new moon for that planet, and completely rewriting the surface of that planet, at the same time shifting the gravitational balance of the whole Solar System.
It would perhaps only transit the inner planets, in which case it could cause massive tides if it passed close enough to the Earth. Compare the size and distance of the Moon to possible sizes of this planet Nibiru. Gravity follows an inverse square law, remember, so if Nibiru passed twice as far away as the Moon, its gravitational effects would be one quarter of the Moon. This would lead to an extra tidal influence in Earth’s oceans, and when the two tidal influences were added together, you’d get an exceptionally high tide, perhaps several meters higher than a normal high tide.
The closer that Nibiru passed to the Earth, the worse the combined tidal effects would be. If Nibiru passed close enough to the Moon, gravitational forces could rip the whole thing apart, perhaps Nibiru too if it is of a similar size or passes closely enough. The same could be said for Earth.
You would have to also consider how quickly Nibiru is moving. Or rather how slowly. The orbit of planets is quite slow, but a body from interstellar space might be travelling much faster. There might be all manner of interstellar bodies that have been ejected from their own Solar Systems for one reason or another.
And if our Solar System’s delicate balance were to be upset by a new planetary arrival, then one of our planets might be ejected as well. And if that planet was Earth, it would be quite bad, don’t you think?
But no one can know for sure until it is actually witnessed. Our models might be wrong, and we are only human after all.
Fortunately, as you know, this is a hypothetical situation, because, as you know, no planet X or Nibiru has ever been located. It really ought to be visible by now if it was real…
OK, ignoring all the “planet x” end of the world theorys. If a large enough chunk of matter passed through the solar system it’s gravity would effect the orbits of the various planets, moons, asteroids, and comets that it passed near.
there WAS a widely accepted theory that Pluto was originally a moon of Neptune that was effected in exactly the way you are asking.
I don’t know who or what is throwing rocks or meteorites or whatever comes from out there,but my guess is we need them for something.Maybe geology classes are doing something with that stuff,ask them. Sounds like some terrorist story again.Watch the weather channel for that.
What if aliens came down, what if you die tomorrow, what if there is no God…There’s no time for “What If” questions. Life is too precious to be wasted on asking those types of questions.
If it was fairly massive even though it missed everything it could disrupt a lot of stuff.