Distant Object Found Orbiting Sun

[Hissyspit]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4726733.stm

Distant object found orbiting Sun
By Dr David Whitehouse
Science editor, BBC News website

Astronomers have found a large object in the Solar System's outer reaches. It is being hailed as "a great discovery".
Details of the object are still sketchy. It never comes closer to the Sun than Neptune and spends most of its time much further out than Pluto.

It is one of the largest objects ever found in the outer Solar System and is almost certainly made of ice and rock. It is at least 1,500km (930 miles) across and may be larger than Pluto, which is 2,274km (1,400 miles) across.

The uncertainty in estimates of its size is due to errors in its reflectivity. It might be a large, dim object, or a smaller, brighter object. Whatever it is, astronomers consider it a major discovery.

MORE

[Tux]

1. Sweet

Anyone think neocons would drill it for oil?

[Joanne98]

2. It must be the long awaited Planet X! lol

[aquart]

3. We've been waiting for Planet X?

Why?

[rman]

4. some have been waiting for it

because they believe it exists, and believe it will cause the end of the world.

http://xfacts.com/x2.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_X

as of yet this one doesn't seem to be large enough and doesn't come close enough to cause problems.

[O.M.B.inOhio]

5. unexplained deviation in orbit of Neptune & Uranus

had astronomers looking for cause and led to discovery of Pluto. But Pluto&Charon are not massive enough to have changed those planets' orbits. So whose gravity affected the gas giants? Undiscovered, theoretical Planet X.
Planet X is thought by astronomers and theologans to be the only place that Donald Rumsfeld can be placed so he will not crawl out of his coffin and continue to prey upon the living.

[soothsayer]

7. yep! Could Nibiru all right.

[Ian David]

6. That's way too small to be a moon...

[Orrex]

8. Yuggoth! The Stars Are Right!

And it's about damned time, if you ask me.

[DrGonzoLives]

17. So

my gibbering insanities every night HAVEN'T been a coincidence?

Ia! Ia!

[Orrex]

18. It all depends

If you have a sudden and savage craving for calamari, your entrails may be trying to tell you something.


BTB--I love love love your sig animation. Hysterical!

[emad]

9. Distant object found orbiting Sun

Distant object found orbiting Sun
By Dr David Whitehouse
Science editor, BBC News website



The new object was discovered in the outer reaches of the Solar System

Astronomers have found a large object in the Solar System's outer reaches. It is being hailed as "a great discovery".

Details of the object are still sketchy. It never comes closer to the Sun than Neptune and spends most of its time much further out than Pluto.

It is one of the largest objects ever found in the outer Solar System and is almost certainly made of ice and rock.

It is at least 1,500km (930 miles) across and may be larger than Pluto, which is 2,274km (1,400 miles) across.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4726733.stm


MORE confusion for astrologers????

[ck4829]

10. It's probably Sedna

I think it's been seen before, so this probably isn't breaking news.

[emad]

11. I think this is not another Sedna story:

SNIP:
It is at least 1,500km (930 miles) across and may be larger than Pluto, which is 2,274km (1,400 miles) across.

The uncertainty in estimates of its size is due to errors in its reflectivity.

It might be a large, dim object, or a smaller, brighter object. Whatever it is, astronomers consider it a major discovery.

In 2004 scientists discovered Sedna, a remote world that is 1,700 km across.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4726733.stm

[Algorem]

12. Nibiru?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

13. It's an alien ship - they spy on us for comic relief

I don't mean DU, but the US us.

[Stand and Fight]

14. Amazing!

I cannot wait until additional information is found out about the object. I shall have to keep a diligent watch on the world of astronomy.

[On the Road]

15. Well, as Far as Astrologers Go,

some of them have predicted a 10th "Planet X" for generations. This will certainly trumpeted as proof of astrology by some people.

[arwalden]

19. If They Stub Their Big Toe... it's PROOF of SOMETHING!!

They'll always find some after-the-fact "connection" between some Earthly event and the position of SOMETHING in the sky.

[htuttle]

20. Yup, just like stock market analysts

There's always a 'reason'...after the fact.

[Bill McBlueState]

21. here's one

"I heard that right before the tsunami there was a star quake at the center of the galaxy!"

-heard in February. The way one's mind must work to fathom a connection between those two events amazes me.

[zbdent]

16. The last compassionate conservative?

Or maybe Bush's credibility . . .

[arwalden]

22. Oop!

:spray: :rofl:

[emad]

24. BBC coverage today: "a highly-inclined 44-degree orbit":

Astronomers detect '10th planet'
By Dr David Whitehouse
Science Editor BBC news website



Astronomers in the United States have announced the discovery of the 10th planet to orbit our Sun.

The largest object found in our Solar System since Neptune was discovered in 1846, it was first seen in 2003 but has only now been confirmed as a planet.

Designated 2003 UB313, it is about 3,000km across, a world of rock and ice and somewhat larger than Pluto.

Scientists say it is three times as far away as Pluto, in an orbit at an angle to the orbits of the other planets.

Astronomers think that at some point in its history, Neptune likely flung it into its highly-inclined 44-degree orbit.

It is currently 97 Earth-Sun distances away - more than twice Pluto's average distance from the Sun.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4730061.stm

[Desertrose]

23. and it even appears to have a moon!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/07/0729_050729_newworld.html

National Geographic News
July 29, 2005

Astronomers in Spain and the U.S. have discovered a large object skirting the fringes of the solar system. Research teams from both countries announced the discovery separately.

The object, designated 2003 EL61, is about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) across, according to Mike Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology, who led the U.S-based team. The team announced its discovery today.



The object also has a moon.

Astronomers at Palomar Observatory in California captured this image of a Pluto-size object on the fringe of the solar system on May 6, 2004. Designated 2003 EL61, the object is estimated to be about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) across and is orbited by a moon.
Photograph courtesy Mike Brown/California Institute of Technology



2003 EL61 and its satellite are located in the Kuiper belt, a region beyond Neptune that includes Pluto and the recently discovered large planet-like objects Quaoar and Orcus.

Preliminary reports from the Spanish scientists suggested it may be twice as big as Pluto, but those reports now appear to be incorrect.

"They were just guessing a size, because they didn't know it has a satellite," Brown wrote in an e-mail to National Geographic News.

more at link...http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/07/0729_050729_newworld.html