From: Skeptical Inquirer | Date: January 1, 1998| Author: Hines, Terence | COPYRIGHT 1998 Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

The planet Vulcan? Hey, wasn't that just a made-up planet Gene Roddenberry created for Star Trek? Not at all, gentle reader. For a period of many years in the late nineteenth century, some, if not all, of the world's astronomer's believed in the existence of a planet Vulcan that orbited the Sun inside the orbit of Mercury. Vulcan was actually "observed" quite a few times through the telescope by both professional and amateur astronomers. But, Vulcan never really did exist. It was a t...