'Buffy' (2004 XR190) puzzles astronomers

[andy lloyd]

A new Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt object has caused astronomers a headache. This scattered disk object seems too distant to have a purely resonant orbit with Neptune, but theories used to explain its high angular tilt with respect to the ecliptic run into trouble. This is because its orbit is almost circular, and the available theoretical mechanisms would require its orbit to have become more eccentric. This is anomalous and has led to speculation by Hal Levison that another factor may be at play...perhaps the one-time presence of a binary object orbiting the Sun.

 

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8455

 

Just what exactly is going on out there???

[Ophiolite]

The Death Star.

 

This particular object was spotted when it was within a couple of degrees of the ecliptic. That's where we tend to look.

The recent spate of KBOs have been discovered for two reasons: improved equipment; we are looking for them.

There are going to be a lot more to follow.

I'd lay 50:50 odds that it will emerge that the Kuiper Belt isn't a belt, but a cloud, just like the speculative Oort Cloud. And that will have implications, once again, for the mechanisms of planetary formation.

[andy lloyd]

That's an interesting thought. I guess, and maybe I'm wrong here, that the reason that the (Edgeworth-)Kuiper Belt was theorised as being a disc in the first place was that the short range comets tended to lie somewhat in the plane of the ecliptic. Conversely, the more or less random sources of long range comets created the concept of a more distant Oort Cloud.

 

Theoretically, the Kuiper Belt was an intrinsic part of the original proto-planetary disk of the solar system, and so this would underline the probability that most of its objects lie in the same plane today, or have been perturbed into more eccentric orbits by, say, Neptune's influence. Like Pluto. Whereas the Oort Cloud's character was affected by external influences, like the galactic tide, passing stars, and so on, which randomised the cloud over time.

 

If these premises are correct, then that explains the difficulties with the current discoveries to present theory, not least Buffy. If you are correct in your prediction, the textbooks would still need to be re-written.

 

This article from 'USA Today' highlights the strangely anomalous condition of the outer solar system:

 

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2005-12-19-strange-solar-system_x.htm?POE=click-refer

 

The implication of these new discoveries (particularly regarding the bodies named Sedna and Buffy) is that science has some work to do. I would advocate the existence of a dark companion to explain the anomalous behaviour of these objects.