Planet X: How far away is it? How fast is it traveling?

using 2 bits of information from a part of the yowusa video on planet x, i arrived at the following rough calculations of its speed .. assuming it to arrive in 2012 sometime.

note that scenario #1 is obviously way off in its speed and, therefore, its estimated distance in 1983. also, one of the 2 below was reported by US News & World Reports but i forget which one:

scenario #1
in 1983 reported to be 50,000,000,000 mi away
2012-1983 = 29 yrs
travels 1,666,666,666 mi/yr
8760 hr/yr, so traveling 190,258 mi/hr?

scenario #2, more likely
in 1992 reported to be 7,000,000,000 mi away
2012-1992 = 20 yrs
travels 350,000,000 mi/yr
traveling 39,954 mi/hr

[i had originally estimated its speed to be roughly 25,000-50,000 mph, based upon the speeds of asteroids, meteors, etc .. so 40kmph is in the ballpark according to #2.]

anyway, assuming its 3 yrs away (yea i know about ASSumptions) would put it about 1 billion mi from us.

does this sound plausible to anyone?

Last Edited by upstateny on 09/24/2009 03:26 PM