A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 64 Discovery
In fact, many astronomers began to doubt the existence of Pluto back then, and it has something to do with the discovery of Neptune.

After the initial discovery of Uranus, people found that its orbit calculation data and observation results were obviously inconsistent, so it was speculated that there was a massive celestial body that affected Uranus' orbit.

Later, after mathematical calculations, yes, it was simply calculations based on observational data. Adams and Le Verrier actually directly gave the orbital parameters of the new planet, and then they discovered Neptune.

That's pretty amazing!

That's why Neptune is called the planet under the pen.

But the current situation is that even if Neptune is added, it is still not enough to cause such a big change in the orbit of Uranus. There must be other celestial bodies that are perturbing Uranus.

So many people want to find this mysterious planet.

As early as eight years ago, in 1894, a businessman in the United States, Rowell, built a private observatory with the purpose of searching for this mysterious planet.He later gave the plan a name: "Planet X Project".

X means unknown, that is, to search for the unknown ninth planet.

But until his death, he couldn't see the discovery of Pluto, because it was really too difficult to find!The difficulty of finding a new planet in the vast starry sky is really like finding a needle in a haystack, not an exaggeration at all.

In fact, the Pluto taken by the later Hubble telescope is also very blurry, mainly because it is too small, just like we can see tall buildings far away, but we may not necessarily see ants a few meters away.

But Li Yu has his own advantages!

After Pluto was delisted, Li Yu once calculated Pluto's orbit and period in detail out of academic needs and personal hobbies, which was considered a small homework for him.

He was so familiar with the data that he just had to spend a moment finding it in a specific location and snapping a photo.

Although the data was clear, Li Yu still spent several nights searching for Pluto. It was not until the fourth night that he excitedly took two photos and made negatives with a special astronomical comparator.

It can be clearly compared that the position of a star has changed.

that's it!
found it!
Li Yu was so excited that he didn't sleep all night. After editing the photos, he copied and recorded the data overnight, and then wrote a paper on the discovery of Pluto.

The thesis does not need to be very long, he only needs to put two decisive photos, and then give the orbital parameters, as well as the expected location, when the telescopes all over the world will be aimed at that piece of sky.

Let's gaze at the night sky together!

Moreover, Li Yu knew very well why Pluto was delisted, so he added some predictions about the Kuiper Belt later.Of course, it cannot be called the Kuiper belt yet, Li Yu named it the exoplanet belt, which is about forty or fifty astronomical units away from the sun.It has far exceeded people's cognition of the size of the solar system at that time.

The next day, even though he didn't sleep all night, Li Yu was still in high spirits, not sleepy at all, as if he had drunk ten cans of Red Bull.

After calculating and sorting out until the afternoon, he finally finished transcribing the thesis, and after checking that it was correct, he rushed to the Royal Society.

President Huggins was drinking a cup of afternoon tea comfortably at this time, and just after taking a sip, he saw Li Yu who entered the door. His eyes were bloodshot but his expression was radiant, which surprised him a bit.

Huggins pointed to the black tea in his hand: "Excuse me, today is Assam black tea, not Chinese Keemun black tea, would you like some?"

"I don't drink Ah San's Assam milk tea!"

Li Yu put the manuscript in front of President Huggins, "Look at this."

President Huggins spit out a sip of black tea when he saw the title of the paper. He excitedly picked up the paper and read a little tremblingly: "On the discovery and orbital parameters of new planets beyond Neptune! You, you, you! You are outside Neptune. Discovered a new planet?"

Li Yu said calmly, "That's right."

President Huggins quickly flipped through the papers. He is an astronomer himself, and he soon realized that the calculations are always rigorous and concise, and everything is only one verification away!
President Huggins shouted loudly: "Joelsen, you immediately notify Lord Kelvin and ask him to go to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich to find me immediately!"

Seeing the excited look of the chairman, Jorsen asked in confusion, "Don't you wait for the Lord to come and go together, he likes to ride a car very much."

"It's too late!" Huggins was a little restless now.

Jolsen said: "But people from the Admiralty will come to a meeting to discuss the synchronization of timekeeping at sea."

Huggins waved his hand: "It's all pushed and pushed! This matter can be done tomorrow! Now I want to go right away!"

They hurried out, only to find that the driver was not there at the moment. Huggins didn't care whether he was a gentleman, so he was about to lean over to crank the engine. Li Yu hurried over and cranked the tractor himself, oh no, it was a car.

President Huggins sat in the driver's seat, "I'm driving today! I know the road well!"

"Sit firmly!" He stepped on the gas pedal to the end, and then performed a suffocating "speed and passion" on the streets of London at a speed of 18 kilometers per hour.

The speed of this car is really "exciting"!

Huggins drove the car directly to the gate of the Greenwich Observatory, regardless of whether the lawn was pressed or not, got off the car and went straight to the director's office.

"Christie! Come live!"

Christie, the director of the observatory, put on his glasses, and asked calmly with a gentlemanly face: "Mr. President, what's the job?"

Huggins slapped Li Yu's paper on the table, "Observe immediately! The ninth planet!"

Although Li Yu has clearly stated in the article that it cannot be called the ninth planet, Huggins is obviously so excited that he doesn't care about anything else.

After reading the thesis, Christie felt stiff and his gentlemanly demeanor was gone: "This! This! This!" He even stammered a bit, "How is this possible!"

However, the orbital parameters are clearly given in the paper, which makes people believe it.He felt a little dry in his throat, this discovery was too big!

If the planet mentioned in the article does exist, it will be big news that shocked the world.

In fact, in the time and space where Li Yu once lived, when Pluto was discovered in 1930, it did cause a worldwide sensation.

This feeling is like having a brother in the family, can't it be exciting!

It is not difficult to verify, as long as it is dark, the huge telescope of the Greenwich Observatory can play a role.

Without further ado, Christie immediately adjusted the orientation of the telescope according to the coordinates given by Li Yu, and everything was waiting for the night to fall!
At this time, Lord Kelvin also rushed to the Greenwich Observatory, patted his clothes and said: "President Huggins, you have called me to the Observatory in such a hurry, it must not be that you refuse to accept the bet? I can tell you, if it is still blue Move, I want to add up to 20 boxes of cigars."

President Huggins said excitedly: "Don't say 20 boxes, I would also like 100 boxes! Take a look!"

President Huggins handed the thesis to Kelvin, "Maybe we will see the ninth planet in the solar system tonight!"

"What!" Lord Kelvin was stunned. "The ninth planet?"

"Yes, it's definitely not an asteroid, it's a real planet!"

After reading the thesis, Lord Kelvin dropped the cigar in his mouth with a "snap" and said in surprise, "Oh my god! YuLi! You're an Amazing boy!"

(End of this chapter)