Newly Discovered Object Revives Speculation of Planet X

originally posted by: LadyGreenEyes
a reply to: Xcathdra

I really wish they'd make up their minds. When I was a kid, we were taught that Pluto was discovered because they were looking for something bigger. Pluto wasn't large enough to account for the gravitational effects observed.

But only because they initially had Neptune's mass wrong.

In 1992, Myles Standish used data from Voyager 2's flyby of Neptune in 1989, which had revised the estimates of Neptune's mass downward by 0.5%—an amount comparable to the mass of Mars—to recalculate its gravitational effect on Uranus. With the new figures added in, the discrepancies, and with them the need for a Planet X, vanished.

en.wikipedia.org...

If there are other objects out there, they certainly are not planet X, at least as described in the ridiculous "research" that was put forth about the subject.

Will some larger body come cruising through our solar system at some point? Possibly.. but it probably won't cause havoc, and certainly is not the mysterious planet X that was talked about. But it will be given that title by many.. because it sorts of fits their belief system.

It's like when a fortune teller tells a girl that one day, she'll meet a tall, dark stranger.. and any guy at average or slightly above height, with a slightly darker complexion (not pale), will meet that criteria in her mind. Same with planet X. It's larger than usual.. it's in our solar system.. clearly, it's planet X!

a reply to: NewzNose

Pluto should be a planet, dammit!

I don't understand this 'dwarf planet' nonsense-it's either a planet or it's not. To paraphrase Sideshow Bob "no one wins a Nobel prize for attempted chemistry."

If classifications were clear and concise, there would be dozens of planets in our solar system.

originally posted by: Thecakeisalie
a reply to: NewzNose

Pluto should be a planet, dammit!

I don't understand this 'dwarf planet' nonsense-it's either a planet or it's not. To paraphrase Sideshow Bob "no one wins a Nobel prize for attempted chemistry."

If classifications were clear and concise, there would be dozens of planets in our solar system.

Comets and asteroids are called "minor planets" by the astronomers. So I'm afraid you'll just have to deal with it.

The classification is pretty clear: a planet is gravitationally dominant in its orbit and has cleared its "neighbourhood" of other similarly-sized bodies. Neptune has done that, Pluto has not.

a reply to: wildespace

Well, that's interesting reading! They really need to update some science books. I have seen pretty recent ones without that data. Looking into that, I located this somewhat lengthy article on the topic, which has a lot of good data as well:

A distant planet may lurk far beyond Neptune

Cool stuff. Nice resource material for the kids, too. Appreciate the info.

I still think there is more out there not yet found. It's funny, too, that Pluto was discovered based on erroneous data. I still think of Pluto as a planet, even if it is small. A dwarf planet is a planet, too!