Re: Some Thoughts on Planet X

Magnus Nyborg wrote:
> In Article <K7NV6.47$gt3.522@read1> Steve Havas wrote
>> I guess what I saw would look most comparable to the
>> object that is pointed to as Pluto in the top image. I
>> would say that as I saw it through the eyepiece the
>> object was fainter and at least twice as large.
>
> Impossible if it was a mag 11 object - Pluto is around
> mag 14, 10 times dimmer than that. And if the object
> looked more than twice as large as Pluto (which due to
> seeing probably had it's light spread out over a 1-3" disk)
> it probably was extending some 50 times the angular
> size of Pluto.
>
> Your sighting was an impossibility!
>
> But you are sure it was planet-X !! How can you be ??

Here we go again rehashing the magnitude/size arguments.  This was hashed
like crazy a month ago, and magnitude DEPENDS on whether you're talking
absolute or apparent or absolute (H) or various other categories, as I
recall.  Also, what type of light one's equipment is calibrated or
designed to receive, and remember Planet X is very much in the red
spectrum, including infrared big time.  Size is larger by at least twice
what Pluto is now, and growing larger as it draws near.  All this
variation and the deliberate confusion that can result can be seen from
the May 28 linking page to postings at
http://www.zetatalk.com/usenet/use05281.htm.

The SUMMATION of this fistfight is posted on May 28, 2001 called Planet X: VIEWING, quoted below

Pluto is reflecting sunlight, and Planet X at this time is NOT, but does
have a dull redish glow as it is a smoldering brown dwarf.  This is what
we're looking for, appearance and size wise, etc.
- Search for an object down to Magnitude 11
- Size in scope is three times that of Pluto
- Is not yet reflecting sunlight (81 times less than Pluto)
- Has a diffuse glow as is a slow-smolder brown dwarf
- Has a redish color, so filter for red for best results
- Brightness increase detectable not until late 2001
- Coordinates per Zetas as ephemeris will not describe path
- Distance is close and moving slowly now
- Retrograde motion and dropping below ecliptic
- Rapid passage in 2003