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From: Lynn.es@XEROX.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: tenth planet
Message-ID: <860110-114053-2169@Xerox>
Date: Fri, 10-Jan-86 14:38:20 EST
Article-I.D.: Xerox.860110-114053-2169
Posted: Fri Jan 10 14:38:20 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Jan-86 06:57:00 EST
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Organization: The ARPA Internet
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Slocum's recollection of Chiron being touted as a tenth planet is
correct, but his details have drifted a bit from how it happened.
First, the name was Chiron, not Charon the satellite of Pluto.  Chiron
was only briefly touted as a tenth planet, but soon became generally
regarded as an asteroid.  This judgment is based on its small size.  We
just had to learn to ignore our previous notion that asteroids should
not be located beyond Saturn.  In any case, its small size means it has
pretty negligible gravitational effects on the outer planets, so is not
the cause of the unexplained perturbations that lead us to believe there
is a Planet X.  Chiron was discovered from earth-based photographs taken
at Palomar by Charles Kowal.  I don't think it has ever been
photographed by a spacecraft.

/Don Lynn