There is a
faction of the
human race that believes the
asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter was a
planet destroyed in an atomic
explosion over 18,000,000 years ago.
This planet, according to various creepy new-agers and acidheads, was called Maldek.
In 1772, a relationship (now known as Bode's Law) in the spacing of the first seven planets was published by the director of the Berlin Observatory, Johann Bode. Here's the gist of it.
Look at the sequence 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96 and 192.
Notice that after the 0, each number is doubled to give the next. Now add 4 to each number and divide by 10. The results are: .4, .7, 1.0, 1.6, 2.8, 5.2, 10.0 and 19.6.
These are, within a few percent, the exact number of astronomical units (AU) each planet is from the sun. The only exception is at 2.8 AU, where we find the asteroid belt exactly where Bode's Law predicted a planet.
So... solar conspiracy, or crack-brained mad science?
The world may never know.