01-21-2016, 09:51 AM
(01-21-2016, 08:20 AM)stevebowers Wrote: I would be surprised if this were the only planet in the Oort belt; we might even have one or two from other systems. But they will be very difficult to spot - the light from the sun reduces by the inverse square law with distance, and so does the reflected light from the planet - so the apparent magnitude of this planet reduces with the fourth power.
Hence why it was discovered by gravitational effects!
Funny how we can take pictures of galaxy clusters 14 billion light years away but cant photograph a giant planet in our own solar system.