caltechedu

KB: I absolutely loved Deus Ex: HR and the Mass Effect series. I think sci-fi video games are an awesome way to connect scientific progress with entertainment.

It could definitely have moons. That will be one of the first things we look for when we spot it. Whether or not it has moons might give us good clues to exactly how it got there.

MB: This is a great question. We have tried really hard to correct for observational biases, but this is, in my opinion, that most uncertain part of the whole work. The human brain is really really good at finding patterns even when they aren't there. You try to overcome these pitfalls by replicating results and making further predictions. Time will tell if the replication occurs (we think it will!), but, as of now, we've already had one successful set of predictions which has come true. So we're convinced enough that we are right that we're willing to stand up and say so, but, late at night, when I can't sleep, I worry about human brains and pattern matching. Time will definitely tell.

Also: the #OMGKITTENS love the feather-on-a-pole.

MB: hard for me to guess. Urbain le Verrier is generally credited with "discovering" Neptune, though he predicted and Galle actually observed it. It doesn't matter much to me: I just want to see.

MB: We think P9 was flung out of the Uranus/Neptune region early on. Our guess is that it wouldn't have had time to have formed moons at the time. So if no moons => early ejection. What if it has moons? Either late ejection OR moons forming when it was far away. If they formed far away they might be very different.^*

• warning: rampant speculation.