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Astronomy Colloquium

Wednesday, December 2, 2020
4:00pm to 5:00pm
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Online Event
Collective Gravity in the Outer Solar System
Ann-Marie Madigan, Researcher, University of Colorado,

There's something odd going on in our solar system. While the planets move on nearly-circular orbits in a well-defined plane, the minor planets beyond Neptune appear to cluster together in a highly-inclined, eccentric, and tilted structure. Astronomers have invoked the presence of an additional planet (Planet 9) or even a primordial black hole in explanation. In this talk I will show that these theories may be unnecessary. In analogy with spiral arms and bars in galaxies, the collective gravity of individually small but collectively massive bodies can create such structures in the outer solar system.

To view this colloquium, please visit:

https://youtu.be/Gsewngg7VvM

For more information, please contact Mansi Kasliwal by email at [email protected] or visit https://www.astro.caltech.edu/.