- TEDx Talks Published on May 31, 2018
Dr. Sako is currently hunting for the putative giant planet — Planet Nine — that might be lurking in the outskirts of our Solar System. Planet Nine, if real, could be as large as ten Earth masses, but will only appear as a faint little dot due to its vast distance from the Sun. Dr. Sako and students use supercomputers to sift through the many millions of detections and background stars, galaxy, and other minor bodies in the solar neighborhood. Its discovery and nature will teach us about the history and formation of our Solar System. Masao Sako is an astrophysicist using large telescopes, supercomputers, and big data to study the Universe. He is the recipient of numerous teaching awards at the University of Pennsylvania, including the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Dean’s Award for Innovation in Teaching. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
Tilted World Points to Planet Nine
A newly discovered object hints at a massive planet beyond Neptune.
1. Nearly all objects in the solar system lie on the same plane.
2. The new object 2015 BP519 has an orbit tilted 54° above the plane of the solar system.
3. Astronomers cannot explain the puzzling orbit of 2015 BP519 without making reference to Planet Nine, a hypothetical planet with a mass 10 times that of Earth.
https://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2018/09/12/the-search-for-planet-nine-masao-sako-tedxpenn/