Planet X

We all have heard about Planet X, a ninth planet that can't be seen. It has had several names: Nibiru being the most referenced. Other names include Nemesis (this is dark star), The Destroyer, Wormwood, Hercolubus, and Comet Typhon. The idea of a rogue planet out in the outer reaches of the solar system has been a subject of science fiction for decades. The Man from Planet X is a 1951 science fiction movie with this idea.

Well, it turns out that there is a Planet X, and it could be the one that has been predicted by ancient astronomers for eons. It's a trans-Neptunian planet out in the Kuiper belt, the vast realm of planetoids and other strange objects beyond Neptune. Pluto is a member of this group.

The reason that Planet X has been theorized is because there is a large swath of the Kuiper belt that has nothing in it. It's like something really large has cleaned out an entire section of the Kuiper belt. Astronomers think that this is Planet X, a large planet predicted by the ancients. It's believed to be larger than Earth but not quite as large as Neptune, and it follows a very odd orbit, that is elliptical and not in the ecliptic (the Earth's path around the Sun).

NASA has admitted that there is something out there, but they won't agree on what it actually is. However, there has been a steady increase in the number of asteroid events near or on Earth. Could this be the result of a Planet X causing the uptick in these asteroid events?

Let me be clear on this. There is no observational evidence for this Planet X. All of the speculation is from the study of the motions of objects in the Kuiper belt. The only thing that is known for sure is that there are many objects out there that could pose a problem for Earth in the future. These trans-Neptunian planets could have very strange orbits that take them from 150 AU to 525 AU with an orbital inclination around 20 to 31 degrees. This means that they are capable of knocking asteroids out of the Kuiper belt and sending them to Earth.

Why can't this Planet X be observed? The reason is that trans-Neptunian objects are so far away and may not be very bright. If the mystery planet is not covered in ice or is composed of dark material, it would be very difficult to see. This represents a difficult task for astronomers. However, keep in mind that trans-Neptunian objects were not even known a decade or so back. All of the hullabaloo about Pluto's demotions from planet status is only recent.

One thing is for sure, there is no big planet going to crash into the Earth anytime soon. A large planet approaching the Earth would be very bright, bright enough for amateur astronomers to see it. All of the nonsense on the Internet is just attempts to get noticed by scaring people.

At the present time the largest trans-Neptunian object known is object UB313. This object is larger than Pluto and it's 97 AU distant. An estimate of its size is a diameter of 3000 kilometers. This is only one of several objects that are out there with Pluto. With time, many more will be discovered. Hopefully, Planet X will be one of these.

Thanks for reading.