Tenth planet announcement forced by hacker?

Posted on Monday, August 01 2005 @ 21:41 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
A South African news paper yesterday claimed the announcement of discovery of a 10th planet in our solar system was forced by a hacker.

They say an unnamed hacker had hacked the server of Michael Brown, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology. The hacker discovered they had found a new planet and he threatened to release the information to the public.
It transpired that Brown and his friends had been sitting on the information since 2003 when they snapped it with a 122cm telescope at the Palomar Observatory. However they couldn’t confirm much about it until it was analysed again last January. So in the time honoured tradition of boffins everywhere they decided to keep the data from the common people until they knew a bit more.
Brown says he and his team planned to announce the discovery when they knew the exact sizeof the planet. More info at The Inquirer


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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