February 2017 News Magazine

10
(Continued From Previous Page)
Amazing Scientific
Discoveries Of 2016
JONATHAN H. KANTOR
8. A Ninth Planet Was Discovered In The Solar System
Before the discovery of Pluto in the 20th century, it had been theorized that a ninth planet, Planet X,
existed beyond Neptune due to the gravitational clustering that could only be caused by a massive
object. It was then believed that this planet was found in Pluto, but that never fully quantified the
gravitational distortion until scientists at the California Institute of Technology presented evidence
that a ninth planet truly does exist with an orbital period of 15,000 years.
The astronomers who published their discovery have calculated that there is “only a 0.007 percent
chance, or about one in 15,000, that the clustering could be a coincidence.” Presently, Planet Nine
remains hypothetical, but astronomers have calculated its orbit to be quite massive. If it does exist,
the planet would likely be approximately 2–15 times the mass of Earth and orbit between 200 and
1,600 Astronomical Units (AU) from the Sun. An AU is 150,000,000 kilometers, which means that
the planet could orbit as far from the Sun as 240,000,000,000 kilometers.
7. Nearly Eternal Data Storage Method Discovered
Everything degrades eventually, and there is no way to store data on one device for truly extended
periods of time. But that may no longer be true due to a discovery made by the University of
Southampton. Scientists have successfully used nano-structured glass to create a process for
recording and retrieving data. The storage device is a small glass disk about the size of an American
quarter that can hold 360TB of data and remain intact up to 1,000°C. This means that its average
shelf life when held at room temperature would be approximately 13.8 billion years (Roughly the
same amount of time the universe has existed).
Data is written on the device using an ultrafast laser via short and intense light pulses. Each file is
written in three layers of nanostructured dots that are only 5 micrometers apart. When read, the data
is realized in five dimensions: the three dimensional position of the nanostructured dots as well as
their size and orientation.
(Continued Next Page)
46