Still Looking for 'Planet X'

"Large 'Planet X' May Lurk Beyond Pluto "
Space.com (June 18, 2008)

"An icy, unknown world might lurk in the distant reaches of our solar system beyond the orbit of Pluto, according to a new computer model.

"The hidden world -- thought to be much bigger than Pluto based on the model -- could explain unusual features of the Kuiper Belt, a region of space beyond Neptune littered with icy and rocky bodies. Its existence would satisfy the long-held hopes and hypotheses for a "Planet X" envisioned by scientists and sci-fi buffs alike.

" 'Although the search for a distant planet in the solar system is old, it is far from over,' said study team member Patryk Lykawka of Kobe University in Japan."

This isn't much of a surprise to me. Oddities in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune led Percival Lowell to look for a tenth planet. His successors at Lowell Observatory found Pluto in 1930. It was in about the right place, but turned out to be too small to be the planet they were looking for.

Now, over seventy years later, with more refined equations, computers to crunch the numbers, and new generations of observing equipment, maybe 'Planet X' will be found.

Or, something even more intriguing.