The mysterious Vulcano planet
We are in the middle of century XIX. The world recognizes Newton as a genius and all the planets cross their orbits following their laws. All. No. Mercury, a small planet has a trajectory impossible to explain. The unique explanation that seems reasonable is that another small planet unknown between the Sun and Mercury exists that its orbit alters.
The planets follow orbits more or less elliptical. That is to say, they are not circles but they are gotten flat like an oval. The point nearest the sun is called perihelion and the point but moved away aphelion. The problem with Mercury was that the perihelion moved slightly in each orbit around the Sun. It failed the law of the universal gravitation?
It was not easy to resign to her. The law of the universal gravitation had been one of the important profits but of science. Simple and an elegant one formulates mathematical had been able to explain the most important aspect of the outer world. This explanation of the movement of planets I am applied to other bodies later as asteroids and commit successfully. It seemed perfect but it failed, among others, with Mercury.
Before throwing overboard a so successful theory, the French astronomer Him Verrier proposed the existence of a small planet that disturbed its orbit. It was not the first time. Own Him Verrier had realised a similar prediction based on the irregularities of the Uranus orbit. And their calculations allowed to locate the Neptune planet. The sum of the enormous prestige of Him Verrier, the success of the discovery of Neptune and the absolute confidence in the law of Newton motivated many astronomers to try the very difficult task of finding that body. A name even seted out, Vulcano, that seemed appropriate given to the proximity to the Sun and the high temperature that would suffer. But to find a so small object and so near the Sun was in the limits than it could locate the technology of then.
Even so there was one who attempt and believed to obtain it to it. Edmond Lescarbault, an become fond of astronomer, affirmed it to have found and Verrier gave credit Him to that discovery. In fact, it died with this belief. The problem is that other more prestigious astronomers and with better instruments were not able to find it. And, on the other hand, it followed without having an explanation adapted to the Mercury movements.
The continuous mystery during half century but until Einstein formulated its general theory of relativity. Its new interpretation of the gravity implied slight changes in the calculated orbit that fitted exactly with the Mercury movements. For the other planets they were too small changes and they had not been detected. Vulcano was united to the list of satellites and hypothetical planets of our Solar System. And the world it forgetfulness until I arrive Star Trek to recover it.
It leaves an answer