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From: wiener@idacrd.UUCP (Matthew P Wiener)
Newsgroups: net.astro
Subject: Re: How long has Halley's Comet been in present orbit?
Message-ID: <126@idacrd.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 12-Jan-86 14:36:22 EST
Article-I.D.: idacrd.126
Posted: Sun Jan 12 14:36:22 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 13-Jan-86 07:47:56 EST
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> However, the question does raise another point.  If there are bodies beyond
>       the orbit of Pluto, might it be possible, through a study of many
>       trans-Pluto comets to infer where any such massive bodies (planets,
>       brown dwarfs, etc.) might be found?
Actually, some astronomers have made predictions since c.1910 about
trans-Neptunian/Plutonian objects based on comet studies.  Indeed,
one other astronomer (whose name escapes me) deserves equal credit
with P Lowell for the prediction of Pluto.  (Perhaps because he also
predicted several other planets, and could not afford his own ob-
servatory, and at first dismissed Pluto as just a comet, he has been
lost in obscurity.)  
But yes, such studies can and have been done in more recent years,
but they all need too many assumptions about the object to make a
prediction about where it is now.

berkeley!brahms!weemba
Matthew P Wiener
Math Dept UCB
Berkeley CA 94720