Tyche was a proposed hypothetical giant planet orbiting in the outer Oort Cloud. If discovered, it could be the largest planet in our Solar System, being on the order of 4 times more massive than Jupiter. Possible data on the region thought to contain Tyche was gathered by the WISE Space telescope and was compiled and analyzed by March 2012. Tyche has been speculated to dislodge comets from the Oort Cloud.
Hypothesis[]
In 1999, Daniel Whitemire found "evidence" of a 10th planet lurking out in the outer Oort Cloud by seeing comets getting dislodged from the Oort Cloud. When Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006, Whitemire changed it to a 9th planet. Whitmire and his colleague Patrick Whitman believe Tyche has been captured by WISE (right). This was later proved false, and as of today, Tyche still hasn’t been proven to exist.
Gravitational Pull[]
Whitemire states that Tyche dislodges long-period comets from the Oort Cloud and Tyche may also the tilted orbits of 2006 SQ372 and Sedna, although this is still inconclusive. More details of its gravitational pull are unknown as of now.
Orbit[]
Tyche has an orbit that is at average 500 times further out than Neptune. It orbits in the Oort Cloud but may sweep into the Sun's bow shock for a very tiny portion of its eccentric orbit. It's gargantuan distance from the Sun (the only main planet outside the Sun's termination shock) and its orbital inclination of 44 degrees means it stays out of the Zodiacal band for its entire 1.8 million year orbit.
Characteristics[]
The common speculation is that Tyche is more massive than Jupiter, probably 1-2 Jupiter masses or even 4 Jupiter masses, and has an atmosphere much like Jupiter. Another guess is that Tyche could be a Brown Dwarf.
Gallery[]
