Is there a tenth planet in the solar system?

From williams@sol.ucolick.orgWed Oct 21 09:10:34 1998


On Thu, 1 Oct 1998, vile wrote:

> IT'S THERE A TENTH PLANET ON THE SOLAR SYSTEM?

Hello,

In short, no. There is no evidence for any other large body in the solar
system outside of the nine planets. A tenth planet should have
gravitational pull on the other planets, and absolutely no inexplicable
gravitational tugs have been seen.

There are a lot of small bodies now being discovered outside the orbit of
Neptune. These are asteroid-sized balls of ice and rock, larger than
comets, but smaller than moons. These form what is called the Kuiper
Belt, and is just a collection of "leftovers" from the formation of the
solar system.

Thanks for writing!

Sincerely,

Kurtis Williams


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