A Former Major Planet of the Solar System Thomas ¢. Van Flandern U, &, Naval Observatory Washington, D. C. 20390 Summary Recent dynamical calculations by M. W. Ovenden have given strong indications of the former existence of a planet with a mass ninety times that of the Barth, present in the asteroid belt. These calculations have now been strikingly supported by the discovery that very-long-period comets apparently originated from the break-up of such a planet. This new evidence is present independently in the distributions of each orbital element of 60 well-observed very-long-period comete, and intensifies if the effects of galactic tidel perturbations are removed by a numerical integration backwards in time to the indicated epoch of the break-up, 6x10 years ago.A Former Major Planet of the Solar System ‘Thomas C. Van Flandern U. S. Naval Observatory Washington, D. C. 20390 Introduction Application of the laws of gravitation to the solar system led to the discovery of Neptune, ana perhaps also Pluto. It would seem that such applications are not Limited to discoveries of presently-existing planets, but are able to indicate former planets as well. The case in point is the asteroid belt, which has been suspected of being the byproduct of a former planet since its Giscovery. This paper summarizes evidence supporting the asteroidal planet ‘theory, and uses dynamical laws to demonstrate that comets also originated in the break-up of such a planet at a recent epoch. The Canadian dynamical astronomer M. W. Ovenden has already presented the results of calculations based upon the so-called "principle of least inter- action action" (Ovenden, 1972). In essence, the principle predicts a Bode's- law-type arrangement of the solar system planets; and, similar to the original Titdus-Bode lew, an additional planet in the present location of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, at about 2.8 astronomical units from the Sun, is to be expected.Ovenden's principle is specific enough, however, to enable the mass and epoch of dissipation of the missing planet to be determined fron the rates of evolution of the orbits of the remaining planets, which are still under- going an adjustment due to the disappearance of the planet in question. The former asteroidal planet would have had a mass of 90#5 Earth masses (about Saturn's size), and woula have been present until an estimated 16x10° years ago. Inasmuch as less than 10-3 farth-masses remains today in the form of asteroids, and since no core or single large fragment remains,most of the mass of the planet apparently disappeared fiom the solar system, either by escape or by collision with the Sun and planets. Meteoritic Evidence Ovenden (1973) has also cited evidence for a recent break-up event from the chronéritic meteorites. Although typical meteorite ages range from hundreds of millions to billions of years, the chrondrites seen to nearly all have cosmic ray exposure ages of less than about 22x10® years with the majority younger than 6x10° years. Given the uncertainties in this dating method, this particular class of meteorites is very likely associated with the asteroidal planet break-up. Evidence from Comets New evidence is now available from very-long-period comets, which apparently also originated from the break-up. It was previously known (Everhart, 1972) ‘that the distribution of orbital elements of short-period comsts could be explained entirely by the action of planetary perturbations on long-period comets. One of the first predictions of an energetic planetary break-up is that there should exist some objects ejected with velocities just below that of escape, which would now be making their first return to perihelion since ejection. Such a class of comets has been known to exist since the work ofort (1950), recently confirmed by Marsden § Sekanina (1973). These comets all have similar periods (on the order cf 10” years) and similar dimensions-- a characteristic which could not have survived even a single previous perihelion passage. The precise periods, while somewhat uncertain, are close to 6x10® years. In the comet catalog of Marsden (1975), there are about 60 of these very-long-period conets with well-determined orbits. A very important charac- teristic of these orbits, predicted by the Ovenden planet model, is that, to the extent that they have not been perturbed, they should all intersect on the celestial sphere (as viewed fron the Sun) at the same point ~-~ the point of the break-up. Figure 1 shows a plot of the portion of these 60 orbits within the solar system during their most recent apparition. Although the orbits scatter all over the sky, there is a tendency to cluster near 2ug° ecliptic longitude, with a weaker ‘clustering near 312° . The clusterings are quite statistically significant; at the center of the first cluster, four orbits intersect within 0.01 square degrees. (Since each heliocentric orbit is a portion of a great circle, symmetric clusterings will appear at @iametrically opposite points on the sphere). If most of these comets have just completed their first revolution since ‘the break-up, then the principal sources of perturbations on their orbits would be fron the tidal effects of the galactic field, with a randomizing effect due to stellar encounters superimposed. The galactic perturbations can be almost completely eliminated by numerical integration of the equations of motion backwards in time to the previous perihelion passage. If this is done, and the orbits are traced on the heliocentric celestial sphere as they would have appeared 6x10 years ago, the result is shown in Figure 2.‘The elusterings in Figure 1 have now merged into a single clustering near 258°, quite close to the ecliptic plane. The scatter in the remaining orbits ie consistent with expectations due to random stellar encounters, which can be estimated at#2.1 radians in 6x10 years, based on the density of stars 4n the solar neighborhood. If the integrations are pressed further back in tine, the galactic perturbations soon become so large that stable orbits are not possible. Similay evidence is present in each orbital element for the long-period comets. From the orbital parameters of the original planet, certain predictions can be made about the expected distributions of comet elements. Particu- Aarily striking is the preponderence of perihelion directions in the same hemisphere as the orbital plane clusterings. Twice as many perihelia lie in the hemisphere centered on longitude 258° as in the other (See Figure 3}, in excellent agreement with predictions based on an origin at a distance of 2.8 astronomical uaits from the Sun, and moving initially with the circular orbital velocity for that distance. This characteristic is virtually immune to perturbations of any type, and is very difficult to explain with any other proposed theory of cometary origin. Conelusion Ovenden's calculations demonstrated the existence of 4 former massive planet in the asteroid belt until an astronomically ~ recent epoch. These calculations are now strikingly supported by characteristics of very-long-period comet orbits, which must have originated in the break-up of the planet. Although existing evidence provides few clues as to how such an event could have happened, the independent evidence from dynamical calculations, meteoritic dating, and comet orbit characteristics (especially the clusterings of periods,orbital planes, and perihelion directions for comets) leave little doubt that the solar system did indeed have a large tenth planet until an epoch so recent that primates were already present on the Earth, and that the break-up of that planet provided the origin of comets and asteroids. BIBLIOGRAPHY Everhart, E. (1972). "The origin of short-period comets", Astrop. Letters 10, 131. Marsden, B.G, and Sekanina, Z. (1973). "On the distribution of ‘original’ orbits of comets of large perihelion distance", Astron. J. 78, 1118. Marsden, B.G. (1975). "Catalogue of cometary orbits", Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass. Oort, J.H. (1950). "The structure of the cloud of comets surrounding the solar system, and a hypothesis concerning Ovenden, M.W. (1973). "Planetary distances and the missing planet", in Recent Advances in Dynamical Astronomy, B.D. Tapley and V. Szebehely, eds. Ovenden, M.W. (1972). "Bode's law and the missing planet", Nature 239, 5081 2an8za ke LAWN dg IA OTSINSD0T Y MANAD TMNIG AH1 AWOC J98 VY Sabah€ eandyaThomas C. Van Flandern U.S, Naval Observatory Washington, D.C. 20390 Personal Born June 26, 1940, Cleveland, Ohio. Married July 6, 1963 to Barbara Ann Weber. Four Children -- Michael, Connie, Brian, Kevin, Other interests: Biochemistry and Nutrition. Education June 1962 Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio - B.S. in Mathematics (General Motors Scholarship). 1962-1963 Georgetown Univ. - Astronomy graduate student for 1 year (teaching fellowship). June 1969 Yale University, New Haven, Conn. - Ph.D. in Astronomy; dissertation: "A Discussion of 1950-1968 Occultations of Stars by the Moon"; Adviser: G.M. Clemence. Experience Feb. 1963 - Present Research Astronomer, Nautical Almanac Office, Naval Observatory, Wash., D.C. Jan, 1971 - April 1971 Consultant, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Honors/Awards Second Prize from Gravity Research Foundation, Gloucester, Mass., for Essay: "A Determination of the Rate of Change of G." May, 197 Dec., 1974: Elected to Council of American Astronomical Society's Division on Dynamical Astronomy. June, 1975: Invited Author of an article on the "Gravitational Constant" for the 1976 McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science and Technology. Sept., 1975: Lecturer on "Time Systems" and "Solar System Ephemerides" for a course on Positional Astronomy at Naval Surface Weapons Center, Dakigren, Vaso Feb., 1976: Invited Author of an article on "Does the Value of the Gravitational Constant Change"? For Scientific American magazine. 1974-1976: | Numerous write-ups in newspapers and magazines, radiointerviews, and invited lectures, on changes in the Gravitational Constant and on the Missing Planet and origin of Comets. Memberships International Astronomical Union American Astronomical Society Royal Astronomical Society American Geophysical Union American Physical Society American Association for Advancement of Science Sigma Xi Research Activities Principal: Celestial Mechanics, Lunar Motion, Occultations; Others: Multiple Stars, Sunspots, Planetary Diameters and Atmospheres, Satellites (Natural and Artificial), Cosmology, Relativity, Gravitational Theory, Origin of Comets and Asteroids, Computer Algorithms for Astronomy, Computer Algebraic Mani- pulators, Time Scales, Positional Astronomy.