Planet X

New York Times
June 19, 1982

Something out there beyond the farthest reaches of the known solar system seems to be tugging at Uranus and Neptune. Some gravitational force keeps perturbing the two giant planets, causing irregularities in their orbits. The force suggests a presence far away and unseen, a large object that may be the long- sought Planet X. The last time a serious search of the skies was made it led to the discovery in 1930 of Pluto, the ninth planet. But the story begins more than a century before that, after the discovery of Uranus in 1781 by the English astronomer and musician William Herschel. Until then, the planetary system seemed to end with Saturn.Today, scientists accept theories concerning plate tectonics. There are articles and studies showing that, at one time, all of Earth continents were on one side of the planet. What the stories don't explore is the question, if all the continents were on one side, what was on the other? The other side has been described as a tremendous gap, matching the Sumerian story of how the Earth came about. The Sumerians said Earth was really half a planet called Tiamat, which broke up in a collision with Nibiru, [or Planet X].The discovery of new planets has, in the last two hundred years, owed more to the science of mathematics than it has to the design of bigger and better telescopes. The unaccounted-for mathematical irregularities in the orbits of the outer planets have prompted astronomers to speculate upon the existence of a further, undiscovered planet. Astronomers are so certain of this planet's existence that they have already named it 'Planet X' - the Tenth Planet.