The Orbit of Halley's Comet

RECENT investigations by Brady 1 have yielded the suggestion that the historical observations of Halley's Comet can be interpreted as indicating the existence of a large planet beyond Pluto having an orbital period of 464 yr. One of us 2 has carried out a detailed study of the past orbit of Hal...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1973-01, Vol.241 (5391), p.520-521
Main Authors: KIANG, T., WAYMAN, P. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:RECENT investigations by Brady 1 have yielded the suggestion that the historical observations of Halley's Comet can be interpreted as indicating the existence of a large planet beyond Pluto having an orbital period of 464 yr. One of us 2 has carried out a detailed study of the past orbit of Halley's Comet using an extension of Cowell and Crommelin's method of Variation of Elements. Either Kiang's material 2 was capable of showing Brady's result but it had not been noticed; or his calculations were insufficiently accurate; or Brady's result was better accounted for by another explanation. We have attempted further calculations to decide between these alternatives, and we now believe that the third alternative is correct..
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/241520a0