Have you heard of Planet X?
Some call it Nibiru, others the red planet Hercolubus, or simply the Destroyer of Worlds. All are said to be rogue planets that will one day crash into Earth. Or at least fly by and make its presence known.
Planets are considered “rogue” if they don’t orbit a star. Perhaps they were ejected from their original star system, or never belonged to one in the first place. Either way, these planet nomads move freely throughout space, unbound by gravitational forces.
However, research indicates that, sometimes, not only can such a rogue planet pass through other star system, interstellar objects could become permanently trapped in our Sun’s orbit, due to gravitational effects of both the Sun and the Milky Way galaxy as a whole. Even more troubling? Rogue planets also aren’t uncommon, as there is an estimated “100,000 times more rogue planets than stars” in our galaxy alone.
Most experts agree that the chances of a rogue planet entering our solar system, much less hitting us (especially now), are slim, perhaps even nonexistant.
Strangely enough, though, it may have already happened. It’s possible our own moon was formed when a rogue planet, roughly the size of Mars, collided with Earth. A new model even suggests that the same rogue planet may not have disintegrated afterwards, as was originally thought, but rather sideswiped Earth and continued onward.
Could There Be A Hidden Planet In Our Solar System?
Percival Lowell commenced the hunt for what he called Planet X in 1906, believing it to be an explanation for the unexpected orbits of Uranus and Neptune.
He felt that, since the two planets appeared “displaced from their predicted positions,” the gravity of a third, unseen planet — Planet X — may be interfering with them. He never found it, and died in 1916.
When Pluto was discovered in 1930, many thought it was the fabled Planet X. It was, after all, located in the very place where Planet X was assumed to be. However, upon further investigation (and later with the help of a satellite), scientists determined that Pluto’s gravity hardly affected Uranus and Neptune at all.
In fact, as it turned out, the initial strangeness of the positions of Uranus and Neptune were actually due to an erroneous measurement of Neptune’s mass, and not an invisible third planet.
The story, of course, did not end there.
Planet X
Not all astronomers are convinced we’ve discovered every planet in the solar system, and so the term “Planet X” has become synonymous with, well, an assortment of terrible things. We’ve also discovered a slew of trans-Neptunian objects, such as the Kuiper cliff and Eris, a dwarf planet larger than Pluto. There is, to say the least, much to be discovered.
The idea of Planet X is still alive and well.
Planet X and rogue planets in general are staples of science fiction. 1951’s The Man from Planet X features a very oddball space alien, and tells the story of an extraterrestrial from the mysterious hidden planet. A rogue object also features heavily in Alastair Reynolds’ Pushing Ice, when Saturn’s moon Janus leaves its orbit and heads out of the Solar System.
