REAL LIFE NEWS: THERE IS NO PLANET X
by Hazed
There has long been speculation that our solar system holds another, as yet undiscovered, planet which has been named Planet X. But after an exhaustive survey, NASA has failed to find any evidence of its existence.
Once upon a time, it was believed that Planet X was a kind of mirror planet to Earth, orbiting the sun at the exact opposite side of the ecliptic so that we could never see it. That fanciful theory was shot down as soon as we were able to send spaceships into orbit.
It was replaced by the supposition that there was an unknown planet somewhere out on the fringes of the solar system, way beyond the orbit of Pluto. The Nemesis Theory says that Planet X explains the mass extinction events which have periodically happened on Earth – a rogue planet with a very eccentric orbit swoops in from the outer regions of the system and perturbs the asteroid field on its way in and back out again. This sends displaced asteroids flying towards Earth, which cause the extinctions.
The theory had already been largely discredited, but still the idea of another planet, Planet X, wouldn’t die.
So scientists poured over data from NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) looking for any objects that might fit the bill as Planet X. They failed to find it. "The outer solar system probably does not contain a large gas giant planet, or a small, companion star," noted astronomer Kevin Luhman in a statement.
Now as we all know, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but still it seems pretty conclusive that Planet X doesn’t exist.
Unless… it’s invisible!
Source: http://io9.com/no-planet-x-does-not-exist-1540392373
