We have a 10th Planet

[Koolan]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0507/29planet/

 

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0507/29planet/planet.jpg

This artist's concept shows the planet catalogued as 2003UB313 at the lonely outer fringes of our solar system. Our Sun can be seen in the distance. The new planet, which is yet to be formally named, is at least as big as Pluto and about three times farther away from the Sun than Pluto. It is very cold and dark. The planet was discovered by the Samuel Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory near San Diego, Calif., on Jan. 8, 2005. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

 

Tenth planet found!

BY WILLIAM HARWOOD

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION

Posted: July 29, 2005

 

A team of astronomers systematically scanning the far reaches of the solar system has discovered a distant, icy world that is bigger than Pluto but so far away the head of a pin held at arm's length would blot out the sun. The discovery, if confirmed, would force astronomers to re-write their textbooks and give school kids a 10th planet to memorize once a governing body sanctions the still-secret name proposed by a trio of discoverers.

 

Currently known by the catalog number 2003UB313, the newly discovered planet wheels about in an elliptical orbit tilted some 45 degrees to the plane of the solar system's eight major planets, taking 560 years to complete one trip around the sun.

 

At its most distant, the planet is a remote 97 times farther from the sun than the Earth. At its closest, it passes inside the orbit of Pluto at a distance of some 36 astronomical units. It is currently the most distant object known in the solar system, so far removed that its surface temperature is a frigid 30 degrees above absolute zero.

 

"It has a surface just like that of Pluto," said Michael Brown, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology. "It's a little bit bigger than Pluto and the main difference, of course, is it's much, much farther away than Pluto right now, so it's going to be a much colder place to be. Not a very pleasant place to live, definitely. And life as we know it would certainly not be doing much out there."

 

The new world was discovered Jan. 8 by Brown, Chad Trujillo, of the Gemini Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and David Rabinowitz, of Yale University, using the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope at Mount Palomar.

 

With a surface dominated by methane, the distant world is 1,677 miles in diameter, compared to about 1,400 miles for Pluto. It is a member of the Kuiper Belt, a broad fan-shaped disk of icy debris extending from the orbit of Neptune to well beyond Pluto. Disturbed by gravitational interactions, primarily involving Jupiter and Saturn, a Kuiper Belt object can fall into the inner solar system and become captured in a so-called short-period orbit.

 

In the early solar system, gravitational encounters also threw large numbers of comets into a vast, spherical shell known as the Oort Cloud. Comets that eventually fall back into the inner solar system from the Oort Cloud typically have orbits measured in millions of years.

 

The newly discovered world is a "very cold, very distant place," Brown told reporters in a teleconference Friday evening. "If you were standing on the surface and you held a pin at arm's length, you could cover the sun with the head of the pin. As I said, it's not a place you'd want to go for a summer vacation. Now, in 280 years, it'll be a lot closer, but it still won't be much of a vacation spot then, either."

 

The size of the planet was inferred by observations of its brightness.

 

"Even if it reflected 100 percent of the light reaching it, it would still be as big as Pluto," Brown said in an earlier statement. "I'd say it's probably one and a half times the size of Pluto, but we're not sure yet of the final size."

 

Talking to reporters, he said a name has been submitted to the International Astronomical Union and "I don't want to say what it is yet because we really want this name to get accepted and we want to make sure we go through all the proper channels," Brown said.

 

The discovery almost surely will re-ignite the debate over what it takes to be defined as a planet. Many astronomers believe Pluto is more accurately grouped with other Kuiper Belt objects and should not be considered a planet in the traditional sense. The debate has even made it into the lyrics of popular song, "Planet X" by Christine Lavin (http://www.christinelavin.com/planetx.html).

 

"Even I have promoted the idea that we should consider Pluto not to be a planet and a Kuiper Belt object instead," Brown said. "But historically, it's been called a planet for such a long time that I think we're never going to not call Pluto a planet. And that's fine. I think historically, we can call it a planet."

 

But if Pluto is, in fact, a planet, "then anything larger than Pluto - I think we should draw the line there - anything larger than Pluto is a planet. Things that are smaller, I think we just call them typical members of the Kuiper Belt and they don't join this very special class of things that are planets."

 

Brown said the discoverers were holding off making an announcement until after they completed their observations. But hackers found the discovery on a private website and trio decided to go public.

 

NASA article: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/jul/H...0th_Planet.html

 

Scientists Discover Tenth Planet

 

A planet larger than Pluto has been discovered in the outlying regions of the solar system.

 

The planet was discovered using the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory near San Diego, Calif. The discovery was announced today by planetary scientist Dr. Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., whose research is partly funded by NASA.

 

The planet is a typical member of the Kuiper belt, but its sheer size in relation to the nine known planets means that it can only be classified as a planet, Brown said. Currently about 97 times further from the sun than the Earth, the planet is the farthest-known object in the solar system, and the third brightest of the Kuiper belt objects.

 

"It will be visible with a telescope over the next six months and is currently almost directly overhead in the early-morning eastern sky, in the constellation Cetus," said Brown, who made the discovery with colleagues Chad Trujillo, of the Gemini Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and David Rabinowitz, of Yale University, New Haven, Conn., on January 8.

 

Brown, Trujillo and Rabinowitz first photographed the new planet with the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope on October 31, 2003. However, the object was so far away that its motion was not detected until they reanalyzed the data in January of this year. In the last seven months, the scientists have been studying the planet to better estimate its size and its motions.

 

"It's definitely bigger than Pluto," said Brown, who is a professor of planetary astronomy.

 

Scientists can infer the size of a solar system object by its brightness, just as one can infer the size of a faraway light bulb if one knows its wattage. The reflectance of the planet is not yet known. Scientists can not yet tell how much light from the sun is reflected away, but the amount of light the planet reflects puts a lower limit on its size.

 

"Even if it reflected 100 percent of the light reaching it, it would still be as big as Pluto," says Brown. "I'd say it's probably one and a half times the size of Pluto, but we're not sure yet of the final size.

 

"We are 100 percent confident that this is the first object bigger than Pluto ever found in the outer solar system,” Brown added.

 

The size of the planet is limited by observations using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which has already proved its mettle in studying the heat of dim, faint, faraway objects such as the Kuiper-belt bodies. Because Spitzer is unable to detect the new planet, the overall diameter must be less than 2,000 miles, said Brown.

 

A name for the new planet has been proposed by the discoverers to the International Astronomical Union, and they are awaiting the decision of this body before announcing the name.

 

I'm alwawys fascinated with these kind of discoveries. wonder what the 10th planet will be named.

[Mozinha]

I had heard about this. I even heard about calling this planet "Sedna" but I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing.

[Celine's Wife]

I've heard bits and pieces about this........

[Kye]

let's name it celine

[Bellamy]

I've heard about it. but maybe it's too early to call it as the 10th planet now.

[Koolan]

I've heard about it. but maybe it's too early to call it as the 10th planet now.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

they're almost 100% certain it's bigger than Pluto, which classifies it as a "planet".

[Clari]

I love astronomy, I love to stare at stars and the moon, it's so amazing!

 

In 2003, they also thought they found a planet and rumors about a name.

 

Thanks for the info!

[Mozinha]

let's name it celine 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

GREAT IDEA

[Miranda]

let's name it celine 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well... i don't agree with you, Kye. I think this planet is too far away from the sun and the temperature must be too low to be live. Celine, a lovely name, may be not very suitable for this dead planet.

[ByuSmurf]

let's name it celine 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well... i don't agree with you, Kye. I think this planet is too far away from the sun and the temperature must be too low to be live. Celine, a lovely name, may be not very suitable for this dead planet.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

THEN IT SHOULD BE CALLED WHITNEY!

[Mozinha]

[Clari]

THEN IT SHOULD BE CALLED WHITNEY!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Edited July 31, 2005 at 07:33 PM by CelineSmiles

[Kye]

[winforlife]

let's name it celine 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well... i don't agree with you, Kye. I think this planet is too far away from the sun and the temperature must be too low to be live. Celine, a lovely name, may be not very suitable for this dead planet.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

THEN IT SHOULD BE CALLED WHITNEY!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

So bad

[Koolan]

THEN IT SHOULD BE CALLED WHITNEY!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

so mean

[Cheerfuljane]

I didn`t even know we had NINE planets already

[Koolan]

I didn`t even know we had NINE planets already

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Me too it has been a long time ago since I learned them.

[piglot82]

I didn`t even know we had NINE planets already

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Me too it has been a long time ago since I learned them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

[Cheerfuljane]

 

IACBTMN

I remember learning them with an acronym in High School - a looooooooong time ago!!

I must have had a good teacher because I can almost remember it....

My Very Energetic Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto

 

[.ItOnlyHurtsWhenIBreathe.]

 

IACBTMN 

I remember learning them with an acronym in High School - a looooooooong time ago!!

I must have had a good teacher because I can almost remember it....

My Very Energetic Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Jane! That's the same acro. I learned in school! hehe

I find this news extremely cool and interesting but maybe i'm just sleep deprived...possibly.

[raluca]

let's name it celine 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well... i don't agree with you, Kye. I think this planet is too far away from the sun and the temperature must be too low to be live. Celine, a lovely name, may be not very suitable for this dead planet.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

THEN IT SHOULD BE CALLED WHITNEY!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

[kristen]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0507/29planet/

 

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0507/29planet/planet.jpg

This artist's concept shows the planet catalogued as 2003UB313 at the lonely outer fringes of our solar system. Our Sun can be seen in the distance. The new planet, which is yet to be formally named, is at least as big as Pluto and about three times farther away from the Sun than Pluto. It is very cold and dark. The planet was discovered by the Samuel Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory near San Diego, Calif., on Jan. 8, 2005. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

 

Tenth planet found!

BY WILLIAM HARWOOD

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION

Posted: July 29, 2005

 

A team of astronomers systematically scanning the far reaches of the solar system has discovered a distant, icy world that is bigger than Pluto but so far away the head of a pin held at arm's length would blot out the sun. The discovery, if confirmed, would force astronomers to re-write their textbooks and give school kids a 10th planet to memorize once a governing body sanctions the still-secret name proposed by a trio of discoverers.

 

Currently known by the catalog number 2003UB313, the newly discovered planet wheels about in an elliptical orbit tilted some 45 degrees to the plane of the solar system's eight major planets, taking 560 years to complete one trip around the sun.

 

At its most distant, the planet is a remote 97 times farther from the sun than the Earth. At its closest, it passes inside the orbit of Pluto at a distance of some 36 astronomical units. It is currently the most distant object known in the solar system, so far removed that its surface temperature is a frigid 30 degrees above absolute zero.

 

"It has a surface just like that of Pluto," said Michael Brown, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology. "It's a little bit bigger than Pluto and the main difference, of course, is it's much, much farther away than Pluto right now, so it's going to be a much colder place to be. Not a very pleasant place to live, definitely. And life as we know it would certainly not be doing much out there."

 

The new world was discovered Jan. 8 by Brown, Chad Trujillo, of the Gemini Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and David Rabinowitz, of Yale University, using the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope at Mount Palomar.

 

With a surface dominated by methane, the distant world is 1,677 miles in diameter, compared to about 1,400 miles for Pluto. It is a member of the Kuiper Belt, a broad fan-shaped disk of icy debris extending from the orbit of Neptune to well beyond Pluto. Disturbed by gravitational interactions, primarily involving Jupiter and Saturn, a Kuiper Belt object can fall into the inner solar system and become captured in a so-called short-period orbit.

 

In the early solar system, gravitational encounters also threw large numbers of comets into a vast, spherical shell known as the Oort Cloud. Comets that eventually fall back into the inner solar system from the Oort Cloud typically have orbits measured in millions of years.

 

The newly discovered world is a "very cold, very distant place," Brown told reporters in a teleconference Friday evening. "If you were standing on the surface and you held a pin at arm's length, you could cover the sun with the head of the pin. As I said, it's not a place you'd want to go for a summer vacation. Now, in 280 years, it'll be a lot closer, but it still won't be much of a vacation spot then, either."

 

The size of the planet was inferred by observations of its brightness.

 

"Even if it reflected 100 percent of the light reaching it, it would still be as big as Pluto," Brown said in an earlier statement. "I'd say it's probably one and a half times the size of Pluto, but we're not sure yet of the final size."

 

Talking to reporters, he said a name has been submitted to the International Astronomical Union and "I don't want to say what it is yet because we really want this name to get accepted and we want to make sure we go through all the proper channels," Brown said.

 

The discovery almost surely will re-ignite the debate over what it takes to be defined as a planet. Many astronomers believe Pluto is more accurately grouped with other Kuiper Belt objects and should not be considered a planet in the traditional sense. The debate has even made it into the lyrics of popular song, "Planet X" by Christine Lavin (http://www.christinelavin.com/planetx.html).

 

"Even I have promoted the idea that we should consider Pluto not to be a planet and a Kuiper Belt object instead," Brown said. "But historically, it's been called a planet for such a long time that I think we're never going to not call Pluto a planet. And that's fine. I think historically, we can call it a planet."

 

But if Pluto is, in fact, a planet, "then anything larger than Pluto - I think we should draw the line there - anything larger than Pluto is a planet. Things that are smaller, I think we just call them typical members of the Kuiper Belt and they don't join this very special class of things that are planets."

 

Brown said the discoverers were holding off making an announcement until after they completed their observations. But hackers found the discovery on a private website and trio decided to go public.

 

NASA article: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/jul/H...0th_Planet.html

 

Scientists Discover Tenth Planet

 

A planet larger than Pluto has been discovered in the outlying regions of the solar system.

 

The planet was discovered using the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory near San Diego, Calif. The discovery was announced today by planetary scientist Dr. Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., whose research is partly funded by NASA.

 

The planet is a typical member of the Kuiper belt, but its sheer size in relation to the nine known planets means that it can only be classified as a planet, Brown said. Currently about 97 times further from the sun than the Earth, the planet is the farthest-known object in the solar system, and the third brightest of the Kuiper belt objects.

 

"It will be visible with a telescope over the next six months and is currently almost directly overhead in the early-morning eastern sky, in the constellation Cetus," said Brown, who made the discovery with colleagues Chad Trujillo, of the Gemini Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and David Rabinowitz, of Yale University, New Haven, Conn., on January 8.

 

Brown, Trujillo and Rabinowitz first photographed the new planet with the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope on October 31, 2003. However, the object was so far away that its motion was not detected until they reanalyzed the data in January of this year. In the last seven months, the scientists have been studying the planet to better estimate its size and its motions.

 

"It's definitely bigger than Pluto," said Brown, who is a professor of planetary astronomy.

 

Scientists can infer the size of a solar system object by its brightness, just as one can infer the size of a faraway light bulb if one knows its wattage. The reflectance of the planet is not yet known. Scientists can not yet tell how much light from the sun is reflected away, but the amount of light the planet reflects puts a lower limit on its size.

 

"Even if it reflected 100 percent of the light reaching it, it would still be as big as Pluto," says Brown. "I'd say it's probably one and a half times the size of Pluto, but we're not sure yet of the final size.

 

"We are 100 percent confident that this is the first object bigger than Pluto ever found in the outer solar system,” Brown added.

 

The size of the planet is limited by observations using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which has already proved its mettle in studying the heat of dim, faint, faraway objects such as the Kuiper-belt bodies. Because Spitzer is unable to detect the new planet, the overall diameter must be less than 2,000 miles, said Brown.

 

A name for the new planet has been proposed by the discoverers to the International Astronomical Union, and they are awaiting the decision of this body before announcing the name.

 

I'm alwawys fascinated with these kind of discoveries. wonder what the 10th planet will be named.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

are you being dead serious omg!! that is amazing and a little spooky!!!!!!! i wonder if there is intelligent life/beings out side earth where we live,because i find it hard to believe that we are the only speci4es living in this universe don't you well uit is interesting.......have you seen war of the worlds with tom cruise that movie was really scary i thought i loved it talk to you soon

[OnlyCeline]

That Planet Would Be Mine... HAhahahahahahha

[Celine's Wife]

Let's call it "Starbucks"

 

"Taking Over The Galaxy On Planet At A Time"

[Krys]

Let's call it "Starbucks" 

 

"Taking Over The Galaxy On Planet At A Time" 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

if they serve coffee there

[Shall]

thank you for the info!

it's so amazing that we found a new member!!!