Is it true that Planet X is going to smash us to smithereens? Will it be the End of the World?

Planet X is perhaps the most poorly researched and astronomically incorrect topic going. It is based upon faulty astronomical understanding. In my research, I have found three stated locations for Planet X. It's only in one place, folks. Most claim it is an invisible brown dwarf some light years away that intends and/or intended to collide with us on three dates that have already passed. There are still many dates to come based upon revised computations, of course. Of course, the previous projected dates came and went.

First, if a body is one light year away, and if it were moving at the speed of light (which I guarantee you, it is not), it would reach us in one year. I read one claim stating Planet X was something like 40,000 light years away and due to strike within six months. Simply, there is no physical way.

Some claim Planet X is a Trans-Neptunian Object near Pluto of enough size and strange orbit to impact Earth. An object of such size should have been found by now. There are no TNO bodies that correlate to the orbital period Planet X is supposed to have. Further, the dynamics of the solar system would prevent the object from taking on a suddenly anomalistic orbit upsetting the planetary apple cart as has been suggested. Simply, a TNO would not be large enough to perturb (gravitationally) Neptune or Jupiter to alter orbit and skew the solar system into catastrophic spirals. (Technical data below)*

Many allege it is hard to see because it is a brown dwarf. Maybe true. But quite a collection of brown dwarfs have been seen and catalogued and none have a proximity that threatens Earth. None of these deliberately hide out or are cosmically obscured. Some claim NASA and the government conceal the truth about Planet X. Believe me, there are enough amateur astronomers out there with nifty telescopes that would ultimately detect the body. And if there was a Planet X, you can bet our government would launch something and shoot it down, because that's what we do.

There are more serious real threats in near space. Many small asteroids have orbits keeping them close to Earth. Some of these Near Earth Objects (NEO's) fall into the subgrouping of Potentially Harzardous Objects (PHO's). New ones are discovered all the time. It is not a question of will the Earth be struck by such an object. It is a question of when and how big will that object be. Seriously, plans are in progress to either destroy or deflect these bodies. Asteroids that are firmer and iron-like in composition should be easy to reroute. Those with a more porous composition will be harder to deflect because their structure actually absorbs an explosive blow.

Still, we must go on living. If the budget for searching for such objects can be maintained, we should have a reasonable heads up.

Meanwhile, there is no Planet X to worry about.

* Need math? Here you go. First, no TNO will have an orbit of 3,600 years. This would be left to the Scattered Disk Objects (SDO's) or the Scattered Kuiper Belt Objects (SKBO's). For an SDO to have an orbit of precisely 3,600 years, it's semi-major axis (an orbital element, more or less a radius factor) must be exactly 234.8921 AU (Astronomical Units). None match. To be lenient I decided to work some numbers for the bodies with a semi-major axis of say +/- 10%. This offers three known bodies: 85158, 2000 CR105 and 2002 GB32. Following is the data for these objects, with an obviously estimated, but reasonably close Semi-Major Axis (in AU). Orbital period noted is in years.

Even if the orbit was close to the required period, the size of these objects would offer no significant gravitational influence upon Neptune, Uranus or Jupiter. And if we are to assume that 3,600 years means 3,600 years, all these objects stand disqualified by virtue of period as well.