Niku, A Mysterious Object Beyond Neptune, Is Traveling In The Wrong Direction

Theres a newly discovered addition to the Solar System 'and its behaving rather strangely.The Solar System is, in a sense, very flat. Nearly everything is moving around the sun along a similar plane and in the same direction.But this new trans-Neptunian object, which measures less than 125 miles in diameter, is different.According to New Scientist, the unknown is tilted 110 degrees from the rest of the Solar System and moving upward,away from everything else.Its moving in the opposite direction of everything else, too, like a car on the wrong side of the road.And it may not be alone.There appears to be a cluster of objects traveling together along this rebellious path.As a result, scientists have named the new object Niku, which means rebellious in Chinese.I hope everyone has buckled their seatbelts because the outer solar system just got a lot weirder. Michele Bannister (@astrokiwi) August 8, 2016 Niku was found by Pan-STARRSin Hawaii, a system of telescopes and cameras created to detect near-Earth objects.While its not the only object in the Solar System with a retrograde orbit 'there are a handful of others, although NASA says most are comets ' Niku is puzzling scientists, who admit they dont yet know whats causing its unusual orbit.An unknown mechanism is required to explain the observed clustering, a research team from the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics wrote in findings published on arXiv.Popular Mechanics reports that Niku, which is 160,000 times fainter than Neptune, has been spotted 22 times.Various theories, ranging from a hidden planet to an unseen star, are all problematic when trying to explain its unusual behavior.It suggests that theres more going on in the outer Solar System than were fully aware of, astrophysicist Matthew Holman, part of the team that discovered Niku, told New Scientist. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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