Track 026 (gaps: 1-4)
Hi everyone, my presentation today is about a groundbreaking discovery that was announced in the US by two scientists, Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown.
They've actually uncovered evidence of a "new" planet in our solar system, called Planet 9.
It orbits the sun, and so it can be considered part of our solar system although its orbits actually take ten to twenty thousand years.
Unlike bodies such as Pluto, which aren't of sufficient size to be considered as planets, this one definitely meets the criteria.
Planet 9 is about 80 billion kilometres away from Earth, much further away when compared to the other planets in our solar system.
Neptune, for example, is around four billion kilometres away. But the way that it dominates its region of the solar system is what has been characterised as 'planet-like' by various commentators.
Beyond Neptune is a collection of smaller bodies known as the Kuiper Belt. This is a collection of thousands of icy bits of debris, and the existence of this new planet in this region is thought to account for the fact that these frozen objects are moving as if orbiting around something that hadn't previously been seen.
What is more, each of these objects was found to be orbiting at an absolutely identical angle. The probability of that happening randomly is about 0.007 percent, so it is reasonable to assume there must actually be something there, even if it can't be seen!
Track 027 (gaps 5-8)
Now, of course, all the planets in the solar system have been known about since ancient times, with the exception of two which were found more recently.
So if indeed this is a planet, it would be a third newly discovered one, making the discovery a real rarity.
And it would be the ninth planet away from the sun, hence its name.
One of the biggest questions is how it came into being.
One theory is that Planet 9 was one of the first bodies formed in our solar system, along with Uranus and Neptune, and all these planets went on to grab all the gas that was around them.
However, Planet 9 is unique in that it ended up being solid, with a core of iron.
Over time, Planet 9 ended up being much further away than all the others from the sun, possibly because it was ejected into a distant orbit after being drawn towards Jupiter and being acted on by its gravitational pull.
If all this sounds rather vague, it's because much of this theory is just that, hypothesis as opposed to fact.
Of course, there's a great deal about the solar system that we can be virtually 100 percent sure about, but what makes Planet 9 so amazing is that it shows that our awareness of it is incomplete, even after all these years.
Of course, it's possible that Batygin and Brown might be proved wrong or that there may be no conclusive evidence one way or the other, but that remains to be seen.
Vocabulary
groundbreaking: making new discoveries; using new methods. Sp. innovador, revolucionario.
E.g. a groundbreaking piece of research.
account for something: to be the explanation or cause of something. Explain.
E.g.
The poor weather may have accounted for the small crowd.
Oh well, that accounts for it (= I understand now why it happened).
randomly: /ˈrændəmli/ without somebody deciding in advance what is going to happen and without any regular pattern. Sp. al azar.
E.g.
The winning numbers are randomly selected by computer.
My phone seems to switch itself off randomly
Seven randomly chosen numbers. Sp. siete números escogidos al azar
rarity: /ˈreərəti/
1. [countable] a person or thing that is unusual and is therefore often valuable or interesting. Sp. cosa rara.
E.g.
Women are still something of a rarity in senior positions in business.
His collection of plants contains many rarities.
2. [uncountable] the quality of being rare. Sp. rareza
E.g.
The value of antiques will depend on their condition and rarity.
Items like this have a certain rarity value
Such stamps are expensive because of their rarity.
come into being: to begin to exist
E.g.
The story of how the university came into being is quite fascinating.
At the moment when the Earth came into being
over time: gradually
E.g.
Things will get better over time.
conclusive /kənˈkluːsɪv/ proving something in a way that is certain and allows no doubt. OPP inconclusive.
E.g.
conclusive evidence/proof/results
The evidence is by no means conclusive
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.