What's Up? The Space Place

Hey Space Placers! A VERY interesting paper came out recently that proposed that the theoretical Planet Nine   may in fact be a primordial black hole lurking in our solar system.   These types of black holes were formed early in the Universe and are thought to be quite numerous and have masses on the scale of our planet. The paper postulates that the Planet Nine black hole would be about five Earth masses and provides an actual to scale diagram (Figure 1 in the paper) of the size of such a body: Figure 1 What if Planet 9 is a Primordial Black Hole?  Jakub Scholtz 1  and James Unwin 2 This is an intriguing possibility that could be detected. The hunt is currently on for Planet Nine so time and observations will tell what is really "out there". Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Look at this, can you believe that you are seeing a COMET less than 5 miles away? Make sure you download the hi-res JPG   to see every nook, cranny and pebble on Comet 67/P. This picture was taken by European Space Agency's (ESA) magnificent Rosetta spacecraft that will be orbiting and following the comet as it gets closer to the Sun this year. I have always tried to visually see (and photograph) every comet I could and the short list (like my memory) is as follows:  IRAS Hale Bopp Hyakutake Panstarrs Lovejoy  But when you work, have a family and lots of commitments it is tough to see them all. I missed   :-(   the northern hemisphere comet classics of Ikeya-Seki and West due to school and being in the Navy. Comet ISON in 2013 was a real joy to follow on the Internet as was Comet Siding SPring that flew so close to Mars last October. But I think it is Rosetta that has really showed us how insanely complex a...