Titus Bode Law

[iamjulian]

Just been reading the latest AN magazine's Uranus feature, and a book called Pluto, Sentinel of the Outer Solar System by Barrie William Jones (Oct 18, 2010).

The Pluto book talks about how Neptune was such a good fit with the Titus Bode Law that the law was used in the search for Pluto. Includes a graph showing how far above/below the line representing strict adherence each planet is, and Neptune is almost on the line.

The Uranus article has a bit written by Sir Patrick Moore, who says that the Titus Bode Law was shown to be no good when Neptune was discovered and it didn't fit at all.

So which of them is wrong?

[Thomas]

The arithmetic coincidence first noticed by Johann Titius, (note the spelling) and promoted by Johann Bode, predicts that Neptune orbits at 38.8 AU, but, in actual fact, Neptune is only at 30.1 AU. Barrie William Jones is therefore wrong.

[iamjulian]

Thank you. Beginning to wonder whether I have "miss read" it in the Pluto book. Perhaps he was saying that if Neptune was in the correct place, then Pluto would be too. I shall have to re-read it. Good book, regardless.