I originally set out to write an article showing the evidence for Planet X existing, and when it might come close enough to Earth to have an enormous effect. I had seen documentaries on the Sumerians' eerie predictions and read apocalyptic articles on the trail of destruction Planet X will leave so I was ready to do the necessary research to find the facts for a gripping article.



When I started my research I quickly realised that there was a lot of misinformation coming from groups who were basing their claims on some very faulty science or very little scientific knowledge. I also found that when critically studied the ancient artefacts which predicted the return of Planet X were very much open to interpretation. I am therefore presenting an article from a sceptical point of view in the hope to give as much accurate information as possible.



Planet X simply means either the tenth planet, from Roman numerals or a mystery planet; Pluto was once referred to as Planet X. It is also known as the ancient names Marduk and Nibiru, Marduk being a Sumerian god who fought with, and subsequently beat the god Tiamat, constructing the Earth from his remains.
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A major source of inspiration for the Planet X believers is the Berlin Seal (above). Zechariah Sitchin believes this carving on a clay tablet shows a very advanced diagram of our solar system but there is evidence to suggest that it is little more than a decoration to fill background space.



To begin with the image shows the random number of eleven planets of varying sizes vaguely orbiting a star. The Sumerians are not known to have had telescopes so they could not have known about the outer planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) that are not visible to the naked eye. Sitchin claims that the Sumerians were in contact with an alien race that gave them detailed information about the solar system and Planet X. He says that the knowledge of the extra planets came from communication with these aliens and that the Sumerians considered the Moon to be a planet, which brings the total known planets to ten. This would indeed leave on of the planets in the diagram left over to be the mystery Planet X.



I do not have a problem with alien contact but there are many problems with both Sitchin's research and his claims about the Berlin Seal. If we assume aliens gave the Sumerians information about the solar system that they could not find out for themselves, then why did they not correct the Sumerians on their belief that the Moon was a planet? Also, why does the diagram not show rings around any planets, or moons, or the asteroid belt, or the fact that the planets orbit at different distances from the Sun? The fact is that the Berlin Seal does not even show a simple diagram of the solar system when the information for it supposedly came form a race that had travelled through it.



For the above I have been assuming that the star in the center of the Berlin Seal picture is supposed to be the Sun. The symbol used by the Sumerians for the Sun is actually a circle with four spaced triangles around it with wavy lines in the spaces, the symbol in the diagram is akin to a Star of David with a ball in the middle or the Sumerian symbol for any bright star.



Sitchin, although successful and with a large, devoted following, was not without his shortcomings. His translations of ancient texts were very inaccurate and he even managed to confuse the word for 'planet', a glaring error. It also seems that Sitchin either read too deeply into the Sumerian stories or read what he wanted to read. For example, both the words Marduk and Nibiru could have referred to the planet Jupiter in Sumerian times.



Finally on Sitchin, he thinks that he found the words 'planet', 'orbit' and '3,600' together in an ancient Sumerian text. While this may be an accurate translation, a regular orbit of 3,600 years, which is how Sitchin interpreted the text, would lead Planet X to eventually break free from the gravitational pull of the Sun and leave the solar system for good, travelling off into outer space.



Mark Hazelwood, a major figure in the Planet X believers community points to NASA and The Washington Post newspaper as a source of proof that Planet X exists. He is right to say that in 1983, The Washington Post reported that two NASA scientists, Neugebauer and Houck, had found a planet the size of Jupiter orbiting the Sun at a distance of two billion kilometres. This story is actually the result of a spot of creative journalism, quite apt for Planet X. The real story was that the scientists were using Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) and had found unexpected variations in the infrared images they took. In their press release they said that these variations could have been caused by anything from a new planet to distant galaxies. The Washington Post reporter obviously gave his article a romantic slant by leaving out the part about distant galaxies. After further imaging and research the anomalies were found to be local dust clouds and distant galaxies, this evidence, although striking at face value, can now be ignored.



Another angle that is used by Planet X believers is the fact that it would appear that certain natural phenomena are starting to become more violent as Planet X approaches our solar system and Earth. Sun spot activity, harsh weather, seismic activity, and volcanic activity all seem to be on the rise however all of these can be explained and considered natural far more easily than they are considered evidence for an impending doomsday event. The more accurate our equipment gets, the more earthquakes and volcanic eruptions we detect. The solar activity and the weather patterns are all part of natural cycles which are not worrying scientists beyond normality.



Finally I would like to address the suggestion that Planet X is actually a brown dwarf. It appears that anyone who is suggesting this hasn't researched what a brown dwarf actually is. To begin with, a brown dwarf is a failed star that did not have enough mass to sustain fusion in its core. It may not be a shining bright star but it does still emit some light, especially infrared light. If a brown dwarf were in or near the solar system it would give off enough light and reflect enough light from the sun to be seen and would certainly have been noticed by astronomers around the world. A brown dwarf is not a tiny, invisible object which could go undetected as some Planet X believers claim, and brown dwarfs are much larger than some of the estimates for Planet X that are frequently banded about.



From the evidence presented above it seems obvious that Planet X is simply a myth with no basis or proof that can be relied upon. While this site is not normally about debunking theories, there is little to be gained from promoting a very unreliable case but I still look forward to a greater understanding of the Sumerian text to see if there is still something interesting and more factual to come from the Planet X mystery.