Planet X: PROBES Sent to Peek?
Per this 1987 statement by JPLs John Anderson, one function of the
Voyagers was to search for Planet X.
In 1987, John Anderson at JPL examined the motions of
the spacecraft Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, to see if any
deflection due to unknown gravity forces could be found.
None was found - from this Anderson concluded that a
tenth planet most likely exists! JPL had excluded
observations of Uranus prior to 1910 in their ephemerides,
while Anderson had confidence in the earlier observations
as well. Anderson concluded that the tenth planet must
have a highly elliptical orbit, carrying it far away to be
undetectable now but periodically bringing it close
enough to leave its disturbing signature on the paths of
the outer planets. He suggests a mass of five Earth
masses, an orbital period of about 700-1000 years, and a
highly inclined orbit. Its perturbations on the outer
planets won't be detected again until 2600. Anderson
hoped that the two Voyagers would help to pin down the
location of this planet. ...
Was Pioneer 10 and other probes likewise sent to get a closer look?
Note it is currently heading toward the constelation of TAURUS, the
direction Planet X is currently riding, per the ZetaTalk Path diagram
(http://www.zetatalk.com/theword/tword03h.htm)
Ron Baalke wrote:
Following its encounter with Jupiter, Pioneer 10 explored
the outer regions of the solar system, .... In 1983, it became
the first man-made object to leave the solar system when it
passed the orbit of distant Pluto. The spacecraft continued
to make valuable scientific investigations in the outer
regions of our solar system until its mission ended on
March 31, 1997. When the mission formally ended,
Pioneer 10 was at a distance of 6.28 billion miles
(10.10 billion km) from Earth. ... Pioneer 10 is currently
7.29 billion miles from Earth ... Pioneer 10's weak signal
continues to be tracked by the Deep Space Network as it
heads toward the constellation TAURUS, where it will pass the
nearest star in about 2 million years.