reply to post by jasonjnelson
Haha, what? If it was located on the other side of the sun, we would still be able to see it six to nine months out of the year since WE ORBIT THE
SUN. If it was coming at us from precisely below the orbital plane, the sun wouldn't be a problem, and furthermore, it would be clearly visible to
the entire nighttime half of the southern hemisphere (well the part that's below the orbital plane, which changes a little bit with the season). This
is because, in case you haven't heard, the earth is round. Anything short of exactly perpendicular to the orbital plane is even easier to see for at
least half the year. It's not like we have difficulty seeing Venus, which tends to be angularly near the sun all year. You just have to look at it
during certain times in the day.
EDIT: of course, if it orbited very close to the sun in an orbit perpendicular to the orbital plane of everything else, it'd be rather difficult to
see, since the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and all, but nobody claims that mercury is planet X.
EDIT 2: Which is to say that nobody claims that planet X hangs around in an orbit similar to mercury's but in a perpendicular orbit. Mercury orbits
around the sun in the same rough plane as the rest of the planets.
[edit on 3-12-2008 by mdiinican]
[edit on 3-12-2008 by mdiinican]
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