Explorer #22: Searching for Planet Nine with Dr. Konstantin Batygin

Dr. Konstantin Batygin is a Professor of Planetary Science at the California Institute of Technology. Professor Batygin and his colleague, Michael Brown, have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which they have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the Sun. Support the Accent on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theaccentpodcast TIMESTAMPS  01:45 Elon Musk vs Mark Zuckerberg  03:35 Encounter with conspiracists  06:40 Rumors of Alien space crafts  10:15 Where to look for life in the Universe  12:50 Planet Formation  17:20 Discovering planets  25:20 Pluto is no longer a planet  27:40 Planet Nine  34:30 Hypothesis of other cosmic bodies  35:15 Primordial Black Holes  43:15 Music Career  52:25 Scientific awards  57:40 Immigration to Japan and USA  01:01:30 Lex Fridman  01:02:30 Parents influence