Does anyone ever hear anything about Planet X?

Question

So I remember hearing about Planet X many years ago but cant remember any details. Now, I hear that it comes into our orbit only once in 3600 years. Is that going to be the big catastrophe that happens in 2012? Do you think it may be slowing our planet down and causing global warming?

Answer 1

Since the discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846, there has been considerable speculation that a ninth planet might exist beyond its orbit. The search began in the 19th century with Percival Lowell's quest for Planet X. Lowell proposed the Planet X hypothesis to explain apparent discrepancies in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, speculating that the gravity of a large unseen planet could have perturbed their orbits enough to account for the irregularities.

Clyde Tombaugh's discovery of Pluto in 1930 initially appeared to validate Lowell's hypothesis; however in 1978, Pluto was found to be too small for its gravity to affect the gas giants, resulting in the brief search for a tenth planet. The search was largely abandoned in the early 1990s, when a study of measurements made by the Voyager 2 spacecraft found that the irregularities observed in Uranus's orbit were due to an incorrect measurement of Neptune's mass. After 1992, the discovery of numerous small icy objects within or near Pluto's orbit led to a debate over whether Pluto should remain a planet, or whether it and its neighbours should, like the asteroids, be given their own separate classification. Although many of the larger members of this group were initially described as planets, in 2006 the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto and its largest neighbours as dwarf planets, leaving only eight planets in the Solar System.

Today, the astronomical community widely agrees that Planet X, as originally envisioned, does not exist. However, the concept of Planet X has been revived by a number of astronomers to explain other anomalies observed in the outer Solar System. In popular culture, and even among some astronomers, "Planet X" has become a stand-in term for any undiscovered planet in the outer Solar System, regardless of its gravitational effect.

Answer 2

I've heard all the silly things posted about it on here.  However, as a professional astronomer, I also know that it doesn't exist, so it would have a pretty hard time doing us any harm!  By the way, global warming is caused by normal fluctuations in the Earths climate.  It has happened throughout the existence of the planet, and will continue to do so into the far future.  The problem with doomsayers is that they never look on a realistic time scale.

Answer 3

In theory Planet X orbits the same rotation as the former planet Pluto or what ever Pluto is now a days. Anyhow there has been no evidence of this. The planet will have very little impact on Planet earth if any at all if it does exist. Its mostly a myth and from what I remember it was more directed to effect us in 2003 if I remember Art Bell in the past.

Answer 4

Planet X comes right after Planet W.  If you read left to right, X has one line going up and one line going down. W has two lines going up and two lines going down. Thus Planet W is twice the size of Planet X. If it is twice the size, then Planet W  has twice the gravitational pull that Planet X does.

Thus we are led to three conclusions:

1) The Earth is not slowing down, so Planet W has no effect. Since Planet X has half the effect of Planet W, then Planet X has no effect.

2) There is no global warming, so Planet W is not causing it. Since Planet X has half the effect of Planet W, then Planet X has no effect.

3) According to the ancient Phoenician calendar, 2012 has already happened. All of the current historians are in agreement that the Earth did not collide with Planet W at that point. Since Planet X has half the effect of Planet W, the effect of a collision can't be measured accurately. Thus, historians are not yet in agreement whether Planet X collided with the Earth in the Phoenician year 2012 or not.

Answer 5

We have heard it too many time, some months ago there was a collision between Y!A Astronomy section and some uneducated conspiracist.

That surely slow legitimate discussion about reality and cause the situation to be a bit warm.

Answer 6

The current research and knowledge of space does not sow any evidence that this Planet X could be a problem for the earth.

Many even do not think it exists, but some Japanese scientist calculated the movements of the other planets and the sun and concluded that an extra planet would explain some of their observations, and there created a hypothesis for Planet X.

Read one popular link and one news article below.