Quote:
Originally posted by Morgeruat:
I thought the asteroid belt was a smashed planet...
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NO, not enough mass. The whole thing ways about 1/4 what the moon does I seem to recall. I think the most likly explanation is that two objects about 1/8 the mass of the moon coalesced in a similar or intersecting orbit and then impacted or otheriwse destoyed each other.
Vulcan was a name for a tenth planet, but it was applied to a hypothetical planet that was observed *inside* mercury orbit. It appeared on stellar maps for two or three years until they realised that nobody else could match the sighting.