For the first time, the idea of ​​the possible existence of a planet that once occupied the gap between Mars and Jupiter arose even among the founder of celestial mechanics, Johannes Kepler. In 1596, he drew attention to the "empty space" between two celestial bodies and suggested that there should be another undiscovered planet.
Then his guess was confirmed by two more Johannes - Titius and Bode, who empirically derived a certain formula according to which it turned out that all the planets of the solar system are in strictly defined places. According to their calculations, there really should be another planet between Mars and Jupiter.
They searched for her, but did not find her. Then, at the turn of the XVIII – XIX centuries, the German astronomer G. Olbers put forward a hypothesis explaining the failure of the search. Say, the planet once was, but then collapsed. And we can still observe its fragments in the form of planetoids in the so-called asteroid belt, formed at the site of a long-standing disaster.
In 1949, the Russian astronomer S. Orlov proposed to name the hypothetical planet Phaethon by the name of the son of the ancient Greek god of the Sun - Helios, who, once, according to a myth that decided to ride through the sky in his father’s chariot of fire. But the horses did not obey the inexperienced driver, they carried it, and the Phaeton crashed.
However, by the middle of the 20th century there were almost no supporters of the Phaeton hypothesis. The Titius-Bode formula was invalid, and natural reasons were found to explain the existence of the asteroid belt.
However, our astronomer I. Rezanov ventured to suggest that such a planet did exist. It was formed together with other planets of the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. But where is she then?
Some scholars of the past even decided that a thermonuclear conflict had once erupted in Phaeton. Bombs began to explode, and here the planet fell apart. However, Rezanov considers such an explanation as mythical as riding a young Phaeton in his father’s chariot. The reasons for the destruction of the Phaeton were again purely natural, he believes. The information collected by astronomers indicates a tremendous cosmic disaster, which in the distant past befell the solar system. Otherwise, how to explain the existence of giant craters discovered on the Moon, Mars, Mercury, and even on our Earth? In addition, as a result of that catastrophe, some moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus began to rotate in the opposite direction with respect to the planets and their other satellites.
Studies have shown that the planet Olberso (Phaeton) began to collapse about 4 billion years ago, that is, 500-600 million years after the formation of the solar system, Rezanov believes. It is precisely this prescription that, in his opinion, is the age of most craters in Selena. They were formed as a result of the fall of the Phaeton debris on the moon.
However, why did the Phaeton collapse? Some researchers believed that a cosmic catastrophe could be to blame. There was once a huge asteroid in our solar system. By the will of fate, or rather, thanks to the laws of celestial mechanics, he collided with Phaeton with such force that only fragments flew away.
However, Rezanov decided that the destruction of the Phaeton could take place without the participation of an unknown alien. According to the researcher, the planet initially had a mass of about 10% of the earth, that is, it was equal to the mass of Mars. It had a powerful bark and a very small iron core.