Planet X / May 2003?

[Stupendous Man]

What's the real scoop on this "planet X" that's supposedly coming our way in may 2003?

Another doomsday prediction, or some other object blown out of proportion?

[Kaptain K]

Newage drivel.

[GrapesOfWrath]

I believe Kaptain K is referring to this thread, over in Against the Mainstream.

[The Curtmudgeon]

On 2002-01-23 11:13, Stupendous Man wrote:
What's the real scoop on this "planet X" that's supposedly coming our way in may 2003?

Another doomsday prediction, or some other object blown out of proportion?

It's all very, very Real and you'd better be prepared for it, just as you were for the 5/5/2000 planetary alignment that caused the massive ice build-up in Antarctica that caused the whole planet to topple over.

You do realise that our whole planet toppled over summer before last, right? I mean, you didn't sleep through it or anything? That would have been a real shame. Anyway, in case you were a Bad Child and slept through the Cosmic Event of the Millenium, we are all now standing on our heads, galactically speaking of course, because despite Global Warming there's now too much ice in Antarctica. And it's all the fault of that nasty planetary alignment.

So be prepared--we only have one more year, and then poof! We're all galactic history. Again.

The ( [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] ) Curtmudgeon

[Chip]

On 2002-01-23 11:13, Stupendous Man wrote:
What's the real scoop on this "planet X" that's supposedly coming our way in may 2003?
Another doomsday prediction, or some other object blown out of proportion?

I think the idea was that subtle disturbances in the orbits of either Neptune or Pluto (or both) indicate that a large body much further out in the solar system is affecting them. (This idea is not new. I read about it in the 60s.)

The hocus-pocus crowd has transformed the idea into a wandering “Planet X” that is swinging into our part of the solar system...somehow.

Meanwhile, an opportunity arose several years ago to research the original idea of "Planet X" by analyzing the Doppler data still being sent our way from Pioneer 10, which has left the Solar System, and is the furthest man made object from Earth. After long compilation of this research the data indicated that there is no "Planet X," and the perturbations in the orbit of Neptune can be accounted for. Though there might be other Pluto sized bodies in the very distant outer Solar System.

However, the data also indicated a deeper mystery which I posted in this thread from the "Against the Mainstream" Department. (I posted it there because the mystery has not been resolved, though it could be in "General Astronomy" since it is hard data and not yet the subject of wilder speculation.)

Understanding this esoteric information with regards to the velocities of Pioneers 10 & 11 could eventually have long-term effects on the current model of the solar system and even physics in general.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Chip on 2002-01-23 16:03 ]</font>

[Karl]

On 2002-01-23 16:01, Chip wrote:

. . .is the furthest man made object from Earth.

Voyager 1 took that honor years ago. I haven't heard of any similiar irregularities in the Voyager tracking data.

http://vraptor.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/...el/vgr217.html

[Chip]

On 2002-01-23 16:20, Karl wrote:

On 2002-01-23 16:01, Chip wrote:
. . .is the furthest man made object from Earth.

Voyager 1 took that honor years ago. I haven't heard of any similiar irregularities in the Voyager tracking data.
http://vraptor.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/...el/vgr217.html

Thanks for the correction Karl --
(I won't be sneaky and go back and edit my post.) [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]
Chip

[Donnie B.]

On 2002-01-23 16:20, Karl wrote:
I haven't heard of any similiar irregularities in the Voyager tracking data.

The Voyagers can't be used to generate such data, because they are actively stabilized by thrusters.

The Pioneers are simple spin-stabilized craft and have been in free-fall trajectories for a very long time.

There's no way to crunch out the effect of Voyagers' thrusters, but the Pioneer data is "clean".

[Karl]

On 2002-01-23 19:24, Donnie B. wrote:

The Voyagers can't be used to generate such data, because they are actively stabilized by thrusters.

Makes sense, I know on Cassini we can't change power states more than a certain wattage during gravity wave experiments (one just ended) because the acceleration from the change of location of thermal radiation could be enough to be detectable.

[smzarba]

Well, I believe them! I saw 1951's "When Worlds Collide"
[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[lpetrich]

As I've pointed out in another thread, a giant planet like this supposed one would very likely be on a very nearly-parabolic orbit; and more than a few times its periapsis distance, can be treated approximately as traveling direclty toward the Sun.

And if there was one due for peripasis near the Earth's orbit in 2003, it would now be somewhere between Jupiter's and Saturn's orbit distances, and would be visible to the unaided eye and resolvable in a small telescope. But nobody claims to have seen such an object.

[Pi Man]

I didn't know much about Planet X until I started coming here to Bad Astronomy.

P.S. WHY ARE THERE SO MANY CALVIN AND HOBBES USER NAMES ON THIS BULLETIN BOARD??????????? Don't get me wrong, I like Calvin and Hobbes to (I even have every strip ever published in the newspaper) but Spaceman Spiff, Hobbes, Stupendous Man? I know I'm forgeting a bunch more!