Konstantin Batygin - Planet Nine from Outer Space
- Public Event
At the outskirts of the solar system, beyond the orbit of Neptune, lies an expansive field of icy debris known as the Kuiper belt. The orbits of the individual asteroid-like bodies within the Kuiper belt trace out highly elongated elliptical paths and require hundreds to thousands of years to complete a single revolution around the sun.
In this talk, Batygin will argue that the observed clustering of Kuiper belt orbits can be maintained by a distant, eccentric, Neptune-like planet, whose orbit lies in approximately the same plane as those of the distant Kuiper belt objects.
Konstantin Batygin is Assistant Professor of Planetary Science at Caltech.
This is a free event; no tickets or reservations are required.
Reserved section tickets are available to members of the Friends of Beckman Auditorium and the Caltech Associates.
This lecture is the Richard C. Biedebach Memorial Lecture.
Presented by: Caltech Committee on Institute Programs
Konstantin Batygin
Credit: Caltech
