Chapter 285 A challenge to the stars! (Part 1)
It has been introduced before.
in the original history.
In 1781.
William Herschel first discovered Uranus.
But because its orbit does not comply with the law of universal gravitation, and there are large errors.
So some years later, Le Verrier independently calculated the existence of Neptune.
But soon, the astronomical community discovered another problem:
Neptune still only explains about 70% of Uranus' orbital anomalies.
Therefore, people believe that there should be another planet in Neptune's outer orbit.
Finally, Tombaugh discovered its existence in 1930, which is the famous Pluto.
Tell the truth.
Initially, Pluto did fill in the remaining 30% of the data.
So the astronomical community began to open the champagne, and it has been open for more than 40 years.
But with the discovery of Charon by James Christie on June 22, 1978, astronomers were suddenly surprised to find something.
It seems that the champagne was opened a little early, and the three-goal lead at halftime was overturned? !
The International Astronomical Union officially announced Christie's discovery to the world on July 7, 1978, and named Charon Charon in 1985.
It is also worth mentioning that.
Although radio telescopes had appeared in 1978, the NOFS used by James Christie was still a standard reflecting telescope.
And its diameter is only 61 inches, which is 1.55 meters.
It was mentioned in the previous chapter.
Take the distance between Pluto and Earth.
A satellite that can be observed with non-radio astronomical telescopes must not be that small in size.
Finally, the astronomical community calculated the phenomena of mutual occultation and transit between Pluto and Charon between 1985 and 1990, and determined that the diameter of Charon is approximately half that of Pluto.
The two objects are tidally locked to each other, forming a double dwarf planetary system.
That is to say.
Their centers of mass are located beyond Pluto.
This is equivalent to two celestial bodies forming a conceptual 'combined planet'. The gravitational force exerted by this combined planet is inconsistent with the orbit of Uranus - for the specific situation, you can look at the iron ball that was lifted before. Example of entering the sand.
In other words.
The discovery of Pluto was actually a mathematical coincidence that was accidentally hit
Therefore, astronomers began to observe Kuiper belt objects due to this influence.
The next thing was the discovery of six celestial bodies: Sedna, 2004VN112, 2007TG422, 2010GB174, 2012VP113, and 2013RFS99.
Their orbits have some subtle overlap, and they are highly suspected to be pulled by some external force.
This has led the astronomical community to speculate that there may be a previously undiscovered giant planet or an orange-sized black hole in the Oort Cloud area.
Of course.
Considering that some idiots, ahem, few students have far insufficient knowledge about astronomical observation, here is another piece of knowledge.
That's exactly how scientists look for planets within our solar system—which include asteroids.
The method of observing exoplanets has been introduced once before, so it will be omitted here.
In short, they are the Doppler method and the transit method, as well as microgravitational lenses, coronagraphs, etc.
As for the planets within the system, the method is very simple:
Most of the time.
Stars remain basically stationary in the sky, while planets change positions at a certain angular velocity.
So just use the automatic image search software to compare images within a certain period - for example, half a year or a year, and then filter out the stars with an angular velocity greater than a certain arc second.
Generally speaking.
The domestic default value is more than 1.3 arc seconds per hour.
Internationally it is 1.5 arc seconds per hour.
It is precisely because of the lack of understanding of this method that many people have a misunderstanding:
Asteroids and inner planets are all captured by telescopes like Hubble.
Objects in our system that are farther than Pluto cannot be seen with ordinary astronomical telescopes.
This thinking is totally wrong.
Give an example.
Eris has been mentioned before. It is a full 97 astronomical units from the earth - 150 million kilometers per astronomical unit, which is 2.5 times that of Pluto.
Guess what size the telescope was that Mike Brown used to discover it?
The answer is a 1.2-meter reflecting telescope. The production process is at a level that could have been achieved in 1780 - but there have been some improvements in the optical path.
But this has nothing to do with craftsmanship, but with design ideas.
So it doesn’t mean that if a planet is very far from the earth, it cannot be observed by ordinary telescopes.
Without considering the detailed picture.
It is actually meaningless to discuss how far an optical instrument can see.
if you wish.
A refracting telescope can even see any star below +12.6 visual magnitude 180 AU away - even though it's just a small dot.
But without rigorous data analysis, you will never know what planet you are seeing.
Therefore, screening stars is the most complicated part of finding planets within our system.
Like said before.
If you choose a nice day and take a photo of the sky, you might be able to capture the ninth or tenth largest planet in the solar system, but you have no idea what that thing is.
Be it Webb or Hubble, there is also the Sky Eye of Guizhou, China.
Most of the time, these radio telescopes are used to observe extrasolar objects.
For stars in the system, millions of photos are usually taken first and the images with displacement are screened out by computers, and then the orbits are calculated.
Then according to the orbit, we can deduce which star region it may appear in at a certain time on a certain day, and how much right ascension and declination.
Confirm the above information.
A 1.4-meter-diameter astronomical telescope from the 1800s is enough to spot it.
Okay, let’s get down to business.
all in all.
Based on the information currently available.
The 'ninth planet' of the solar system is indeed a controversial topic, and it is definitely not the type of popular science. (In the past few days, many readers have asked why the ninth planet has not been discovered if there really is a ninth planet. They feel a little helpless. I posted the Nature paper and the website provided it, and then used my own inherent concepts to make judgments. It is really impossible to search. After searching for the Oort Nebula, its radius is one light-year. The solar system is really not that small, Maomao sighed.JPG)
But on the other hand.
This concept is a cutting-edge issue for the scientific community in 2022, let alone 1850.
According to Xu Yun's plan.
My mission is very simple, just help Gauss find Pluto and that's it.
From now on, Charon, Eris, Makemake, etc. can be left to future generations.
But who knew that Xiaomai, a guy with no martial ethics, would actually make such big news? ? ? ?
Then Riemann hesitated for a moment and asked Gauss:
"Teacher, what should we do next? Continue to calculate the new celestial body?"
"Continue calculating?"
Gauss glanced at his students, sighed, shook his head and said:
"That's easy to say. How can we continue to calculate the positions of celestial bodies?"
As he spoke, he shook the calculation paper in his hand, and several equations were burned on it:
"We only have the orbital formula of Conan's star. Apart from that, we don't know the size of the companion star or the position of the center of mass of the combined star. How can we deduce more distant planets?"
"Not to mention that today's astronomical telescopes are still somewhat lacking in accuracy. Although data calculation is more important for exploring celestial bodies, when observation records are limited, the imaging effect of the telescope becomes particularly important."
It is not difficult to understand what Gauss said.
It's like you are a fisherman trying to find the largest whale in the oceans of the earth.
If you can know at what longitude and latitude it is 500 meters below the sea surface, then ordinary sonar can scan it.
But if you don’t know its location.
We can only pump water around the world, and the pumps required are obviously very technically demanding.
Same thing.
Whether Gauss can discover the real ninth planet once he has the relevant conditions is not yet discussed.
But if the relevant conditions are not up to standard, then he will definitely not be able to discover the planet.
As he spoke, Gauss glanced at Xu Yun a few more times.
His face turned bitter, he put on a dying expression, and sighed:
"Hey, it's a pity, it's a pity. I don't know how many years I can live with my body. Maybe I won't be able to calculate that planet before I die."
Xu Yun: "."
Prince of mathematics, could your acting skills be any more fake?
Then he sighed slightly.
Although Gauss's words are somewhat misleading, to a certain extent, they are also true.
Follow the historical trajectory.
In another two or three years, Gauss's physical condition would deteriorate rapidly.
He eventually passed away five years later.
If no variables appear.
In two to three years, not much will change, either in mathematics or astronomical instrumentation.
Think of this.
Xu Yun couldn't help but glance at Gauss.
Good guy.
After thinking about it for only half a minute, the little old man was already telling Riemann what music should be played at the funeral.
"."
Then Xu Yun took a deep breath, came to Gauss, and asked solemnly:
"Professor Gauss, have you really decided to do this?"
Xu Yun's question was a bit tactful, and he looked a bit like the Riddler.
But he was certain that Gauss would understand what he meant.
This is not actually a question, it also contains a reminder that Xu Yun carries the identity of a time traveler.
Because Xu Yun has no doubt about one thing:
Once he puts something in the hands of Gauss, the mathematical prince will definitely devote all his energy to the possible planet without reservation.
But the problem is
Compared to Gaussian expectations.
Xu Yun is really not optimistic about the prospect of exploring the true ninth planet.
This planet will be a controversial topic in 2022, and there are many people who hold negative attitudes.
When China's Guizhou Sky Eye searched for pulsars in 2021, it spent a planning cycle searching for that planet.
In addition, NASA's WISE has also been responsible for the search for new planets for a long time. In 2021, it spent 1,563 hours exploring new planets in the system, which is nearly 18% of the year.
But whether it’s the Eye of Heaven or WISE.
They never gain anything.
The level of science and technology in 2022 is still like this, now in 1850.
Can this thing really be accomplished with a lot of passion?
Gauss obviously understood what Xu Yun meant, so he put away his playful expression.
I saw him pondering for a moment and suddenly said:
"Classmate Luo Feng, have you heard of my story?"
Then, before Xu Yun could speak, he continued:
"My grandfather is a gardener and my father is a cement builder. My family has been poor since I was a child."
"When I was young, my father only hoped that I could inherit his legacy and paint the walls and tiles for the homes of those big shots."
"To be honest, I didn't know the meaning of the word 'destiny' at that time, but I had an intuition - this is not the life I want."
"So I studied hard to let people realize my talent."
"When my light shone brightly enough, my father was finally moved and sent me to school despite being in debt."
Then Gao paused, glanced at Xu Yun who was thoughtful, and continued:
"Later I entered the University of Göttingen and met a descendant of a noble family, who despised me because of my background."
"In anger, I felt a little unhappy, so I spent a week calculating the problem of ruler and compass construction of a regular heptadagon."
"Later, I summarized 27 theorems named after me without any predecessors to pave the way. To be honest, I still have a bunch of unpublished things hidden in my manuscript. ”
"So classmate Luo Feng, do you understand what I mean?"
Xu Yun thought for a moment and asked tentatively:
"You want to say that it was through your unyielding perseverance that you finally created so many miracles?"
Gauss glanced at him, shook his head and said:
"You are wrong, what I want to say is that I am actually a genius."
"I don't create miracles, because I am a miracle."
"A miracle bigger and brighter than the existence of unknown planets in the solar system." (End of Chapter)