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Dr Edmond Modeste Lescabault. ---- Nobody has actually seen Vulcan. Vulcan was a small planet believed to orbit between Mercury and the Sun. Its "discovery" was announced on 2 January 1860, by French mathematician Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier. Le Verrier hypothesised that Mercury's unusual orbital motion around the sun was influenced by another planet.

The belief in the possibility that another planet existed close to the sun had begun in the early 1840s when small black spots were observed across the sun. Not seeming to be sunspots, the only other explanation seemed to be that another planet was travelling with Mercury during its transit. These reports were unconfirmed, but they piqued interest. In 1840 François Arago, director of the Paris Observatory, suggested Le Verrier explore the subject.

Using a model based on Sir Isaac newton's laws of motion and gravitation, together with his own experience in celestial mechanics, Le Verrier determined that Mercury's orbital irregularities were caused by the planet he named Vulcan. Vulcan was so named after the Roman god of fire, suitable for a planet so close to the sun. Many continued to believe Vulcan existed until 1915, when Einstein explained the orbit of Mercury using his theory of general relativity. (source: today.wmit.net - January 2)

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