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What if it is just in a REALLY big orbit. Something is illuminating it, so it must be remotely near a star, we cannot even image pluto like that.
by ck2 13y ago
What if it is just in a REALLY big orbit.
Something is illuminating it, so it must be remotely near a star, we cannot even image pluto like that.
- wtallis 13y agoI'm pretty sure they're just measuring the blackbody radiation it's giving off in the infrared spectrum. This thing is about half the mass necessary to ignite fusion and become a brown dwarf, and it's very young, so it's still got a lot of heat.
- hrjet 13y agoI wonder if it were to get close to a star, would the heat from the star be sufficient to ignite the fusion in the orphan planet?
- cubancigar11 13y agoAs I understand, a nearby star will strip off most of the gas and make it more akin to a comet, so pretty much opposite of fusion will happen if it were to get close to a star.
- gus_massa 13y agoA nearby star would raise the temperature a few hundreds of K. To have nuclear fusion you need a few millions of K. So the effect would be negligible.
- aortega 13y agoPluto is tiny and cold. Big planets emit lots of infrared from internal heat. Jupiter still radiates more heat than it receives from the Sun (source: wikipedia)
- drjesusphd 13y ago> Something is illuminating it It's illuminated by its own heat.