Nemesis and Planet X

Scientists developed the Nemesis and Planet X theories in an effort to explain why mass extinctions on Earth appear to have occurred roughly every twenty-six million years. Each theory suggests that a still undiscovered star (Nemesis) or planet (Planet X) periodically perturbs the orbits of comets, sending them into the inner solar system where some could collide with Earth.

Overview

Nemesis and Planet X are theoretical astronomical bodies whose existence has been suggested as a possible driving force for periodic mass extinction episodes. Nemesis and Planet X theories both propose that about every twenty-six million years the movement of an astronomical body through space causes massive extraterrestrial objects to collide with Earth. The resulting catastrophic changes in Earth’s environment led to the widespread extinction of species. The periodicity of the mass extinction episodes, and the impacts causing them, are themselves theoretical. By the early twenty-first century, most scientists doubted the validity of those theories.

The Nemesis theory hypothesizes that the Sun is orbited by a companion star so small, dim, and distant that astronomers have yet to discover it. This dark, low-mass star is thought to move in a highly elongated orbit at a distance between 25,000 to 150,000 astronomical units from the Sun. About every twenty-six million years, when it most closely approaches the Sun, the companion star is believed to pass through the huge comet reservoir known as the Oort Cloud. This vast region, which may contain anywhere from one hundred billion to ten trillion widely separated comets, surrounds the solar system, extending to a distance of perhaps fifty thousand astronomical units from the Sun. As the companion star moves through the Oort Cloud, its gravitational field disturbs the orbits of nearby comets. Some are deflected into deep space, while others are pushed toward the inner solar system. Of those comets entering the inner solar system, it is likely that some could collide with Earth. Because of the role that the Sun’s companion star is thought to play in causing periodic devastating impacts on Earth, researchers have dubbed it Nemesis, after the Greek goddess of vengeance.

The Planet X theory, which also involves cometary perturbation, proposes that the solar system has a massive, undiscovered planet whose orbit lies beyond that of the dwarf planet Pluto. The “X” represented both the unknown and the Roman numeral X (ten). Researchers have suggested that Planet X may have so far escaped detection because its orbit lies outside the plane of the solar system. Proponents like Daniel Whitmire and John Matese believe Planet X to be at least as large as Earth, to be located fifty to one hundred astronomical units from the Sun, and to orbit the Sun in about seven hundred years along a highly elongated, eccentric path. According to this theory, Planet X's orbit slowly processes over fifty-six million years—that is, it regularly changes orientation in space. The precession is such that about every twenty-eight million years, (roughly one-half the precession period), Planet X perturbs comets within the Kuiper Belt. This disk of comets located beyond Neptune at a distance of roughly thirty to fifty-five astronomical units from the Sun is often regarded as merely the inner portion of the Oort Cloud. Although Planet X would have cleared a path through the Kuiper Belt, roughly every twenty-eight million years its precession would bring it close to the margins of the cleared area, where comets would fall under its gravitational influence. As in the Nemesis scenario, gravitational forces would deflect some comets into the inner solar system, leading to periodic cometary impacts on Earth.

Many scientists have linked such cometary impacts to mass extinctions experienced throughout Earth’s history. Earth’s fossil record shows that over the past six hundred million years, there have been several mass extinction events, forming the boundaries between the major divisions on the geologic timescale. For example, it was in the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods (also known, from the German, as the "K-T boundary") that the dinosaurs, nearly all marine plankton (tiny photosynthesizing plants), and 15 percent of marine invertebrate families became extinct. Evidence strongly suggests that the K-T extinction sixty-five million years ago was related to extraterrestrial impact.

If a comet or other large extraterrestrial body collided with Earth, the environmental effects would be severe and widespread. The immediate area of impact would be devastated by heat energy and a powerful shock wave; tSunamis and earthquakes might also result. Massive quantities of dust and gases would be thrown into the atmosphere, and a portion of the atmosphere itself might be ripped away. Fireballs formed by coalescing dust and gases would set off large-scale wildfires. The resulting smoke, combined with the dust and gases, would block Sunlight for months, reducing global temperatures and impeding photosynthesis.

Depending on where the collision occurred, conditions could be even more severe. If the impact site were rich in limestone and evaporite minerals (as is believed to be the case for the K-T event), sulfur and water vapor released from the rock could combine with atmospheric gases to produce nitric and sulfuric acid, which would eventually fall to Earth as acid rain. In combination with atmospheric gases, carbon freed from the limestone would produce carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas capable of trapping heat and causing global warming. Plant and animal species unable to withstand the extremes and fluctuations in temperature, disruptions in the food chain, and other inhospitable conditions would face extinction.

Methods of Study

The Nemesis and Planet X theories spanned several disciplines. Paleontologists, geologists, chemists, physicists, and astronomers were among the scientists whose studies led to the development of these and associated concepts. Both theories are rooted in the idea that extraterrestrial impacts have caused or contributed to extinction events and that these impacts occur periodically.

Some researchers have used iridium data to link extraterrestrial impacts to mass extinctions. Iridium, an element related to platinum, is rare in Earth’s crustal rock (its average abundance is 0.001 parts per billion). Gravity drew most of this extremely dense and unreactive element to Earth’s core when the planet was still molten. By contrast, laboratory analysis of meteorites (rocks of extraterrestrial origin found on Earth) has detected concentrations on the order of 500 parts per billion. The iridium found in surface sediments typically originates from space and is most often deposited as a light but steady rain of small cosmic particles. Where elevated iridium concentrations are present, extraterrestrial impact may have occurred. (Some scientists favor the alternative theory that iridium has reached Earth’s surface through volcanic activity.) High concentrations of iridium have been found at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in rock and sediment samples from around the world. While iridium anomalies have also been noted in association with a few other boundaries marking major extinction events, the correlations are less striking and much more problematic. To determine iridium concentrations in a sample, chemists have historically used neutron activation analysis, whereby the material to be analyzed is exposed to neutrons from a nuclear reactor. Once the iridium has been made radioactive, a gamma-ray detector system determines the element’s concentration.

Researchers have identified other signs of possible extraterrestrial impact, all within Cretaceous-Tertiaryboundary sediments. Grains of quartz and other minerals have undergone shock metamorphism, a change in crystal structure and density that results from the passage of high-pressure shock waves. Also present are tektites, glassy silicate-rich balls of varying composition, which are believed to form when rock and soil vaporized by an extraterrestrial impact recondense and fall back to Earth. Soot in boundary layer samples from around the world suggests extensive burning. In addition, geophysical methods have revealed a huge, half-submerged, sixty-five-million-year-old crater, Chicxulub, off Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. An impact structure about two hundred kilometers in diameter, Chicxulub Crater is buried beneath roughly two kilometers of sediment and was detected during oil exploration by means of magnetism and gravity surveys.

To determine whether extraterrestrial impacts are periodic in nature, paleontologists have compiled vast amounts of data on the fossil record of life, notably data on when organisms appeared and disappeared. Researchers noted a possible periodicity in extinction events after creating graphs and conducting statistical analyses using computerized data indexes. Some have also performed similar computer analyses using a list of known impact craters and their ages; periodicities of twenty-six million to thirty-four million years have been suggested. It should be noted, however, that there is considerable uncertainty in the dates assigned to many of the craters.

Scientific evidence suggesting impact-related extinction and periodic extinction episodes led scientists to develop the Nemesis and Planet X theories. Both theories assume that the extraterrestrial agents in question are comets. Asteroids, rocky astronomical bodies smaller than planets, can also strike Earth and wreak havoc. However, their travels are considered too erratic to account for the periodicity discussed here. To validate either the Nemesis or Planet X theory, scientists would need to find an astronomical body whose observed characteristics correlate with predictions.

The Planet X theory is generally considered the weaker of these two proposed models. In 1985, when the theory was first published, the existence of a massive planet beyond Neptune provided a viable explanation for minor irregularities in the movements of the outer planets. (Pluto’s mass proved insufficient to account for the anomalies.) Researchers suggested that this distant planet had escaped detection because efforts to find it had concentrated on the plane of the solar system, while Planet X’s orbit was inclined in relation to the plane. However, the lack of orbital irregularity in the outer planets makes it unlikely that a planet massive enough to perturb comets lies in the area predicted by the Planet X theory. By the mid-1990s, these arguments were less convincing.

A few researchers continue to search for a star matching Nemesis’s description. Because more than half the known stars are believed to have a companion, the existence of a companion to the Sun would not be unusual. If this companion were a red dwarf star, too small and too dim to be observed readily despite its relative proximity to the Sun, it could escape detection. Moreover, because astronomers have yet to determine the distances to many red dwarfs, it is possible that Nemesis has been observed but not recognized. At present, Nemesis would be halfway through its orbital cycle, near its greatest distance from the Sun (and roughly thirteen million years away from its next impact-triggering passage through the Oort Cloud). Researchers scan the skies using a computer-controlled reflecting telescope to automatically record and compare images of red dwarf stars. This computerized system observes each candidate over time and uses parallax shift to assess how far away it is. Parallax is the apparent displacement of an object against a background of more distant objects when it is viewed from a different location; the movement of Earth in its orbit provides the necessary change in viewpoint. The closer an object is to the viewer, the greater the parallax. Because Nemesis should be the closest star to Earth other than the Sun, it should exhibit greater parallax than others. Researchers surveying the northern hemisphere eliminated more than half of the thirty-one hundred red dwarf stars under scrutiny. So far, no stars fitting the description of Nemesis have been found, and the search has largely been abandoned.

Context

The Nemesis and Planet X theories both arose in response to other theories dealing with the nature of extinction on Earth. The idea that collision with an extraterrestrial object could trigger mass extinction events had been considered before 1980; however, that year saw the first publication of compelling evidence supporting an impact theory. A multidisciplinary research team reported in the journal Science that high concentrations of iridium detected in rocks at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary were possible evidence that an extraterrestrial agent had ended the reign of the dinosaurs. Geologist Walter Alvarez, physicist Luis Alvarez, and nuclear chemists Frank Asaro and Helen V. Michel proposed that an asteroid or comet roughly ten kilometers in diameter struck Earth sixty-five million years ago, severely affecting the environment and depositing iridium. Their post-impact scenario, according to which the vast quantities of dust and gases flung into the air affected global photosynthesis and temperatures, caught the attention of researchers contemplating the effects of nuclear warfare. They applied the Alvarez team’s projections in developing a scenario similar to the nuclear wintermodel advanced by Cornell astronomerCarl Sagan in the early 1980s.

In 1984, paleontologists David Raup and J. John Sepkoski Jr. published their findings on the periodicity of extinctions. Using Sepkoski’s extensive compendium of fossil-record data, the research team was able to distinguish some minor extinction episodes from background extinction levels. They found that over the past 225 million years, significant extinction events had apparently occurred approximately every twenty-six million years.

The scientific community responded quickly with ideas that united and relied upon both the impact and periodic extinction theories. In April 1984, the journal Nature featured several articles exploring the astrophysical aspects of Raup and Sepkoski’s twenty-six-million-year periodicity; among them was a paper by Walter Alvarez and physicist Richard Muller, who found a 28.4-million-year periodicity in large, well-dated impact craters. In a separate article that gave Nemesis its name, Muller, along with astronomers Marc Davis and Piet Hut, proposed the existence of a small, dim companion to the Sun, a “death star,” that would periodically trigger comet showers on Earth.

Astronomers Daniel Whitmire and Albert Jackson independently reached the conclusion that a distant solar companion drives the extinctions. In January 1985, Whitmire and astronomer John Matese published a paper in Nature that presented Planet X as the driving force for periodic extinction events. Since then, scientists have continued to investigate the possible connection between extraterrestrial impact and extinction, studying the distribution and significance of elevated iridium concentrations, exploring the idea of periodic extinction, and searching for the mechanisms that may drive mass extinction events.

Nemesis, Planet X, and related theories have generated considerable controversy and interest within the scientific community. Geologists and paleontologists learn that “the present is the key to the past” and that the natural, often gradual forces can explain past geologic events. Hence, to many of these scientists, the idea of sudden, violent, global catastrophe, the likes of which humankind has never experienced, seems more like science fiction than sound science. These theories also challenge the notion that evolution’s primary driving force is an internal force—competition among species. If cometary impact does indeed occur every twenty-six million years, external forces, such as environmental change, may play a more significant role in evolution than scientists previously assumed.

The connection of an asteroid impact (at Chicxulub Crater) to the mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary is well accepted within the scientific community. However, in the early twenty-first century, some researchers proposed an asteroid impact to explain the even greater mass extinction, often called the Great Dying, that occurred 248 million years ago at the Permian-Triassic boundary. A crater much larger than Chicxulub, buried under 1.5 kilometers of ice in Antarctica, is dated to about 248 million years. That crater is also positioned such that the Siberian Traps are located at the antipode of this crater. This hypothesis suggests that seismic energy from the enormous impact in Antarctica underwent antipodal focusing through Earth’s core to devastate the area known as the Siberian Traps. That area also suffered tremendous volcanic activity about 248 million years ago. It must be said that this scenario was quite controversial in 2008, but then, so was the original Alvarez concept nearly three decades earlier. More research is required before the Permian-Triassic mass extinction in which about 90 percent of all life on Earth died out, might be explained in this fashion.

Nemesis and Planet X theories lost favor with time. A number of researchers pointed out that a red dwarf far from the Sun in a rather unstable orbit would likely escape into interstellar space after only a few orbits. In addition, studies in the early twenty-first century indicated that binary star systems often collapse into one another early in their histories and that the rocky planets of our solar system would not have been possible had the Sun and a companion star merged during their early history. Continued observations failed to find a planet beyond Neptune large enough to account for the disruption of small bodies that then enter the inner solar system. In light of these and Earth-based geological findings, many scientists have rejected the underlying theory of periodic extraterrestrial impacts and consequent mass extinctions in favor of erratically occurring impacts and numerous extinctions precipitated predominately by Earth-based events, such as volcanic activity.

It must also be pointed out that in 2006, the International Astronomical Union approved a new classification system for bodies in the solar system. As a result, Pluto was demoted to the status of a dwarf planet. This left the solar system officially with eight full-fledged planets. Thus, the “X” in the Planet X theory could still stand for unknown but would be incorrect if associated with a yet-to-be-discovered tenth planet beyond Pluto.

Bibliography

Close, Frank. Apocalypse When? Cosmic Catastrophe and the Fate of the Universe. New York: Morrow, 1988.

Croswell, Ken. "Double Stars Succumb to Fatal Attraction." Nature News, 25 Sept. 2012, doi.org/10.1038/nature.2012.11483.

Dauber, Philip M., and Richard A. Muller. The Three Big Bangs: Comet Crashes, Exploding Stars, and the Creation of the Universe. Reading: Addison-Wesley, 1996.

Goldsmith, Donald. Nemesis: The Death Star and Other Theories of Mass Extinction. New York: Walker, 1985.

Gould, Stephen Jay. The Flamingo’s Smile. New York: Norton, 1985.

"Hypothetical Planet X." NASA, solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/hypothetical-planet-x/in-depth. Accessed 20 Sept. 2023.

Littmann, Mark. Planets Beyond: Discovering the Outer Solar System. 2004.

McBride, Neil, and Iain Gilmour, eds. An Introduction to the Solar System. Cambridge UP, 2004.

Muller, Richard. Nemesis: The Death Star. New York: Weidenfeld, 1988.

Raup, David. The Nemesis Affair: A Story of the Death of Dinosaurs and the Ways of Science. Rev. ed. New York: Norton, 1999.

Reid, Neil, and Suzanne Hawley. New Light on Dark Stars: Red Dwarfs, Low-Mass Stars, Brown Stars. 2nd ed. Springer Praxis, 2010.

Schilling, Govert. The Hunt for Planet X: New Worlds and the Fate of Pluto. Springer, 2009.

"UKIRT Discovers 'Impossible' Binary Stars." Royal Astronomical Society, 5 July 2012, phys.org/news/2012-07-ukirt-impossible-binary-stars.html. 20 Sept. 2023.