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Could
there be a mysterious tenth planet in our solar system?
That's
the question Gloucester man Andy Lloyd, co-runner of UFO and paranormal
website Cosmic Conspiracies, has been trying to answer.
Admittedly
it's probably not a topic that much occupies the mind of your average
UK citizen, but in America the search for 'Planet X' is a subject
which has garnered considerable column inches.
Theory
Andy
explained the theory: "There are nine planets in our solar
system from Mercury out to Pluto, then there's a comet cloud beyond
Pluto.
"Beyond
Pluto it's very difficult to spot objects because as they get further
away their luminosity drops off a lot.
"For
about 100 years astronomers have been
wondering if there's another planet to be found.
For
about 100 years astronomers have been
wondering if there's another planet to be found.
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| Andy
Lloyd |
"According
to myth the ancients were quite keen on a mysterious big planet
that circles the sun and appears to have a cometary orbit, which
means that it returns to our solar system every three and a half
thousand years or so."
"I
got very interested in this and ended up proposing that it was something
called a brown dwarf, which is like a bigger version of Jupiter."
Planet
In
March a new 'planet' (debate is ongoing about whether it should
have full planetary status) was discovered.
The
object was named Sedna after an eskimo goddess.
Andy
said that astronomers were now "very seriously" discussing
the existence of another, larger undiscovered planet.
"Sedna
orbits the sun in a very odd way, suggesting there's something else
very big out there awaiting discovery," he said.
Although
Andy has written several pieces on the subject for journals in the
USA, he admitted that 'Planet X' is not something which has really
caught the imagination of people back home.
"But
that's okay," he added cheerily, "because I write and
people in America get very excited about it."
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Is
there a giant mystery planet in our solar system? Gloucester man Andy
Lloyd thinks so.
