Cosmic collision in 2012?

Planet X: The Real Story

Then again, maybe nothing happens at all in 2003. You see, Planet X is like the perfect myth: the outcome of centuries of ill-omened rumors, laced with snippets of history and cosmology. But: it is still myth. Dream stuff.

It all began with a tablet of clay, uncovered in the Near East many years ago. On the tablet, the Sumerians, the earliest known inhabitants of the Middle East, jotted down something that looked like a solar system. Earth was there, and Saturn, and Jupiter -- as well as all other planets we know of today. But hey, aren’t there supposed to be nine planets? The clay tablet clearly displays eleven. The tenth one could be the moon, or the newly discovered mini-planet Sedna. But that still leaves you with one planet too many. Weird, isn’t it?


Next came the astronomers. From the 1840s until deep into the 1980s, astronomy was haunted by a strange mystery. Something was not right with the orbits of the outer planets. Something really heavy seemed to be tugging at the outer planets Uranus and Neptune. Certain asteroids felt the mysterious pull, too. Must be an enormous planet out there, many astronomers assumed. Or several planets, even. This was how Planet X got its name: the term `X’ comes from the early-twentieth century astronomer Percival Lowell, best known for his study of the `canals’ on Mars.

But eventually, in the 1980s and 1990s, the riddle was solved. There appeared to be no mystery planet involved at all. Neither is there some mysterious force pulling on Neptune’s orbit. The astronomers simply had their orbit calculations wrong. But with better techniques, it all added up. By now, no serious astronomer believes in Planet X anymore. Exit Planet X.

Is there any real scientific evidence to back up this conspiracy?