full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Mike Brown: The search for our solar system's ninth planet

Unscramble the Blue Letters


(Laughter)

And this is etislansley what that csieurntlg in argument of perihelion was telling us.

siitsctnes were generally baffled and they assumed it must just be a fluke and some bad observations. They told the astronomers, "Do better measurements." I actually took a very careful look at those measurements, though, and they were right. These objects really did all share a common value of argument of perihelion, and they shouldn't. Something had to be causing that.

The fainl pceie of the puzzle came into plcae in 2016, when my colleague, Konstantin Batygin, who works three doors down from me, and I realized that the reason that everybody was baffled was because argument of perihelion was only part of the story. If you look at these objects the right way, they are all actually lined up in space in the same direction, and they're all tilted in space in the same direction. It's as if all those people on the plaza are all walking in the same dtioriecn and they're all looking 45 dgerees to the right side. That's easy to explain. They're all looking at something. These objects in the outer solar system are all rteancig to something. But what?

Open Cloze


(Laughter)

And this is ___________ what that __________ in argument of perihelion was telling us.

__________ were generally baffled and they assumed it must just be a fluke and some bad observations. They told the astronomers, "Do better measurements." I actually took a very careful look at those measurements, though, and they were right. These objects really did all share a common value of argument of perihelion, and they shouldn't. Something had to be causing that.

The _____ _____ of the puzzle came into _____ in 2016, when my colleague, Konstantin Batygin, who works three doors down from me, and I realized that the reason that everybody was baffled was because argument of perihelion was only part of the story. If you look at these objects the right way, they are all actually lined up in space in the same direction, and they're all tilted in space in the same direction. It's as if all those people on the plaza are all walking in the same _________ and they're all looking 45 _______ to the right side. That's easy to explain. They're all looking at something. These objects in the outer solar system are all ________ to something. But what?

Solution


  1. essentially
  2. final
  3. place
  4. scientists
  5. clustering
  6. piece
  7. direction
  8. degrees
  9. reacting

Original Text


(Laughter)

And this is essentially what that clustering in argument of perihelion was telling us.

Scientists were generally baffled and they assumed it must just be a fluke and some bad observations. They told the astronomers, "Do better measurements." I actually took a very careful look at those measurements, though, and they were right. These objects really did all share a common value of argument of perihelion, and they shouldn't. Something had to be causing that.

The final piece of the puzzle came into place in 2016, when my colleague, Konstantin Batygin, who works three doors down from me, and I realized that the reason that everybody was baffled was because argument of perihelion was only part of the story. If you look at these objects the right way, they are all actually lined up in space in the same direction, and they're all tilted in space in the same direction. It's as if all those people on the plaza are all walking in the same direction and they're all looking 45 degrees to the right side. That's easy to explain. They're all looking at something. These objects in the outer solar system are all reacting to something. But what?

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
solar system 10
giant planet 5
outer solar 5
icy bodies 4
gravitational effects 3
faint point 2
slowly moving 2
entire solar 2
typical member 2
circular orbit 2
bizarre part 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
outer solar system 4
entire solar system 2

Important Words


  1. argument
  2. assumed
  3. astronomers
  4. bad
  5. baffled
  6. batygin
  7. careful
  8. causing
  9. clustering
  10. colleague
  11. common
  12. degrees
  13. direction
  14. doors
  15. easy
  16. essentially
  17. explain
  18. final
  19. fluke
  20. generally
  21. konstantin
  22. laughter
  23. lined
  24. measurements
  25. objects
  26. observations
  27. outer
  28. part
  29. people
  30. perihelion
  31. piece
  32. place
  33. plaza
  34. puzzle
  35. reacting
  36. realized
  37. reason
  38. scientists
  39. share
  40. side
  41. solar
  42. space
  43. story
  44. system
  45. telling
  46. tilted
  47. told
  48. walking
  49. works