The Enigma Of The Missing Planet
794The enigma of the missing planet: a mysterious numerical sequence aka Titius bode law.
Our solar system has always been an intriguing topic for humanity, probably because we consider it as our home, our little place in the scaring immensity of the entire universe.
This is probably why during the Eighteenth century the existence of a strange series of numbers which seemed to predict the positions of our “neighbours planets” totally shocked the scientific community giving birth to hundreds of different research works. And it doesn’t end here: these numbers also known as the Titius Bode Law suggested the presence of a missing planet near us, a bit far away from Mars.
But wait a moment, what are we talking about? What is this numerical sequence?
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In order to answer all these questions we need to take a little step back moving directly in the 18th century. At that time, scientists had only discovered five planets (different from our earth) in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
At the same time, mathematicians were totally driven crazy by a strange sequence of numbers: 0,4-0,7-1-1,6-2,8-5,2-10-19,6.
Apparently, it seems that there isn’t a logic correlation between these numbers. However, we can make some little changes to discover something very very interesting. Try to multiply the previous sequence for 10. We have: 4, 7, 10, 16, 28, 52, 100, 196. Now, let’s subtract 4. We obtain 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96,192.
Something can be surely said about this new sequence. Have you noticed it? Except for the first two numbers, which seem to be randomly chosen, all the other numbers are just twice the previous one.
This tricky sequence was studied by Johan Bode in 1772. Therefore, he wasn’t the first one to deal with it. As a matter of fact, the same sequence was introduced by Johan Titius in 1776. Consequently, these numbers are always mentioned as “the Titius-Bode Law”. Even if it takes the name after these two scientists, the sequence was firstly discovered at the beginning of the century by the Scottish mathematician David Grigory and re-elaborated around the 20’s by the Polish philosopher Christian Wolff.
Wait a moment, we have understood how the Titius-Bode law originated, but what does it state? What is it about? How is it linked to the possibility of a missing planet?
Let’s try to understand it step by step. Firstly, we must examine the original reasoning of the scientists. Here are three different pieces that introduce the connection of the sequence with planetary research.
The first is taken by David Gregory’s “The elements of astronomy” of 1915:
"... supposing the distance of the Earth from the Sun to be divided into ten equal Parts, of these the distance of Mercury will be about four, of Venus seven, of Mars fifteen, of Jupiter fifty two, and that of Saturn ninety five."
This second one comes from Johan Titius:
“take notice of the distances of the planets from one another and recognize that almost all are separated from one another in a proportion which matches their bod*ly magnitudes. Divide the distance from the Sun to Saturn into 100 parts; then Mercury is separated by four such parts from the Sun, Venus by 4+3=7 such parts, the Earth by 4+6=10, Mars by 4+12=16. But notice that from Mars to Jupiter there comes a deviation from this so exact progression. From Mars there follows a space of 4+24=28 such parts, but so far no planet was sighted there. But should the Lord Architect have left that space empty? Not at all. Let us therefore assume that this space without doubt belongs to the still undiscovered satellites of Mars, let us also add that perhaps Jupiter still has around itself some smaller ones which have not been sighted yet by any telescope. Next to this for us still unexplored space there rises Jupiter's sphere of influence at 4+48=52 parts; and that of Saturn at 4+96=100 parts.”
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