BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:UW-Madison-Physics-Events
BEGIN:VEVENT
SEQUENCE:1
UID:UW-Physics-Event-9853
DTSTART:20260923T000000Z
DTEND:20260923T010000Z
DTSTAMP:20260915T092521Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260914T135349Z
LOCATION:Forum at the Discovery Building
SUMMARY:Planet 9 From Outer Space\, WiCOR Lecture - Fall 2026\, Konsta
 ntin Batygin\, Professor\, Division of Geological & Planetary Sciences
 \, Caltech
DESCRIPTION:Over the past two decades\, surveys of the outer Solar Sys
 tem have revealed a remarkably complex Kuiper Belt. Most of this struc
 ture can be understood through the gravitational influence of the know
 n planets\, particularly Neptune. Yet the most distant trans-Neptunian
  objects present several enduring puzzles: some follow elongated orbit
 s that cluster together and remain detached from Neptune\, while other
 s occupy highly inclined or even retrograde trajectories that are diff
 icult to produce within conventional models of Solar System evolution.
 <br>
\n<br>
\nTaken together\, these peculiar orbital patterns may poi
 nt to the presence of an additional\, as-yet-undetected planet. This o
 bject — Planet Nine — is predicted to have roughly five times the 
 mass of Earth and to travel around the Sun on a distant\, eccentric or
 bit with a period of approximately ten thousand years. In this talk\, 
 I will review the observational evidence that motivated the Planet Nin
 e hypothesis\, explain the dynamical mechanisms by which such a planet
  could sculpt the distant Solar System\, and discuss current observati
 onal efforts and the prospects for its detection.
URL:https://www.physics.wisc.edu/events/?id=9853
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR