10th planet found in our solar system
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10th planet found in our solar system
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/03/15/d...ject/index.html
Scientists: Most distant object in solar system found
Monday, March 15, 2004 Posted: 7:57 PM EST (0057 GMT)
(CNN) -- Scientists may have discovered the solar system's most distant object, more than three times farther away from Earth than Pluto.
"The sun appears so small from that distance that you could completely block it out with the head of a pin," said Dr. Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology, who helped in the discovery.
The object -- about 8 billion miles (12.8 billion kilometers) from Earth -- has been given the provisional name of Sedna, after the Inuit goddess who created sea creatures of the Arctic.
Brown and his team of astronomers, using Caltech's Palomar Observatory, found Sedna in November as part of an ongoing three-year outer solar system project. Days later, the high power Spitzer Space Telescope focused on the object.
Initial details indicated Sedna to be made of ice and rock, with temperatures never rising above -400 degrees Fahrenheit (-240 degrees Celsius), according to researchers.
Sedna is likely the largest object to be found circling the sun since the discovery of Pluto in 1930. It is still smaller than the ninth planet, though, with a diameter of more than 1,000 miles (1,700 kilometers).
The finding has sparked debate over what constitutes a planet.
Many astronomers say Pluto, with a diameter of just under 1,500 miles (2,300 kilometers), is too small to be a termed a planet and is just one of many minor objects in the outer reaches of the solar system.
But those who argue Pluto is a planet are likely to push the assertion for Sedna to become the 10th planet in the solar system.
Scientists: Most distant object in solar system found
Monday, March 15, 2004 Posted: 7:57 PM EST (0057 GMT)
(CNN) -- Scientists may have discovered the solar system's most distant object, more than three times farther away from Earth than Pluto.
"The sun appears so small from that distance that you could completely block it out with the head of a pin," said Dr. Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology, who helped in the discovery.
The object -- about 8 billion miles (12.8 billion kilometers) from Earth -- has been given the provisional name of Sedna, after the Inuit goddess who created sea creatures of the Arctic.
Brown and his team of astronomers, using Caltech's Palomar Observatory, found Sedna in November as part of an ongoing three-year outer solar system project. Days later, the high power Spitzer Space Telescope focused on the object.
Initial details indicated Sedna to be made of ice and rock, with temperatures never rising above -400 degrees Fahrenheit (-240 degrees Celsius), according to researchers.
Sedna is likely the largest object to be found circling the sun since the discovery of Pluto in 1930. It is still smaller than the ninth planet, though, with a diameter of more than 1,000 miles (1,700 kilometers).
The finding has sparked debate over what constitutes a planet.
Many astronomers say Pluto, with a diameter of just under 1,500 miles (2,300 kilometers), is too small to be a termed a planet and is just one of many minor objects in the outer reaches of the solar system.
But those who argue Pluto is a planet are likely to push the assertion for Sedna to become the 10th planet in the solar system.
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It's not a planet, per se. It is just a large asteroid that is very, very far away. There could be hundreds of objects of similar size out there, we just haven't seen them yet.
If you want to say every piece of rock that orbits the sun is a planet, then there are thousands and thousands of them. If we restrict planets to objects equal to or larger than Pluto, then we only have 9 so far. This thing is too small to be a planet, IMHO.
If you want to say every piece of rock that orbits the sun is a planet, then there are thousands and thousands of them. If we restrict planets to objects equal to or larger than Pluto, then we only have 9 so far. This thing is too small to be a planet, IMHO.
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Yes the thing is small as far as planets go. But it is 1,000 MILES in diameter. This in no way qualifies it as mearly a rock. It is a HUGE asteriod, so big that many, myself included, consider this to be a planet.