There have been many questions posted to me about this during 1996.

This might have been a misunderstanding of the discovery of the large new comet body called Hale/Bopp. Most likely, however, it has something to do with a report that appeared in the news media.

Evidently, an amateur astronomer in England reported the discovery of an asteroid in the Asteroid Belt. This is not unusual since many 'new' asteroids are found every year. But apparently, someone dropped the term 'minor' from 'minor planet' which is a term used to describe asteroids, and suddenly everyone started reporting this as the discovery of a new planet in the solar system.

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