New Planet Discovered

[Spider_dude]

AMERICAN scientists have found a new planet in the solar system, 6.2 billion miles from Earth.

Nasa was expected to reveal details of the discovery - the most distant object ever detected orbiting the sun - later today.

The new planet, the tenth heavenly body in the solar system, has been named Sedna, after the Inuit goddess of the ocean.

The find was made by Dr Michael Brown, associate professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, midway through a three-year Nasa-funded research project.

And it followed sightings of a "mysterious object" by the Hubble Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The new planet, the first to be discovered for more than 70 years, is believed to be about 1250 miles across.

But scientists say it may even be larger than the furthest known planet, Pluto, which is 1406 miles across and was the last to be discovered in 1930.

Scientists believe Sedna is 6.2bn miles from Earth in a region of space known as the Kuiper Belt, which contains hundreds of other known bodies. Most are small worlds of rock and ice but some, like Sedna, could be as large as or larger than Pluto.



link#

http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=302602004

[Cheese]

Does this mean all astrology is now a load of rubbish? (Not that it wasn't before) or will Sedna rising in my moon sign mean I'll meet a tall dark stranger today? :blink:

[ziggyjuarez]

THE END IS HERE :alien:

[thewizeard]

Originally posted by Withcheese@16 March 2004 - 09:55
Does this mean all astrology is now a load of rubbish? (Not that it wasn't before) or will Sedna rising in my moon sign mean I'll meet a tall dark stranger today? :blink:
No, it probably will mean that you will later become a sailor and be buried at sea.... :lol:

[ziggyjuarez]

shouldent this be big.I'v seen it on the news a few times but that it.COME ON ITS A NEW FREAKIN PLANET

[Cheese]

Originally posted by ziggyjuarez@16 March 2004 - 10:21
shouldent this be big.I'v seen it on the news a few times but that it.COME ON ITS A NEW FREAKIN PLANET
Unless it's inhabited by triple-breasted alien super whores then I'm not really that interested.

[- Nightmare -]

Originally posted by Withcheese+16 March 2004 - 06:26--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Withcheese @ 16 March 2004 - 06:26)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-ziggyjuarez@16 March 2004 - 10:21
shouldent this be big.I&#39;v seen it on the news a few times but that it.COME ON ITS A NEW FREAKIN PLANET
Unless it&#39;s inhabited by triple-breasted alien super whores then I&#39;m not really that interested. [/b][/quote]
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Sedna is so freakin far will they even ever be able to get a photo of it? From what I heard the planet takes 10,500 years to orbit around the sun. That&#39;s quite a long time. :huh:

[vidcc]

Have they decided that it definatley has planet status yet? Pluto was discovered about 75 years ago and there is still some discussion in the astrological comunity as to if it deserves the classification ( i don&#39;t know what the criteria is).
Apparently this new rock is only 1 & 1/2 thousand miles across

[Samurai]

Sounds like a fu**ing rock in space. I think we should use it as target practice. I hear we need help against the new Al-Queda Space Program (AQSP).

[lynx]

Who&#39;s going to go dig up Holst? :rolleyes:

[ziggyjuarez]

How did this happen?Why now,did we get a new powerfull telescope or what?

[vidcc]

Originally posted by ziggyjuarez@17 March 2004 - 00:33
How did this happen?Why now,did we get a new powerfull telescope or what?
since the hubble telescope was announced to be decommisioned it&#39;s funny how all of a sudden dramatic finds are being made which prove just how valuable it really is. Could it be that the scientific community is working harder because of the short time left or perhaps these finds are not so rare but are being made public as a lever to keep hubble in service?
Whatever the case it will be sad to see it go

[vivitron 15]

what they do is to look at the shape of the orbit of the planets etc that we know

now, when you consider the orbit of (say) pluto, it occasionally has a slight "dent" in it - this is caused by the gravity of another object pulling it ever so slightly off orbit. now, when you find a "large" dent off orbit, you measure where you would expect this new object to be, and look there - et voila - a new planet.

[Smith]

can i rename it?


i will call it " Myanus"

[bujub22]

Originally posted by TheCanuk@19 March 2004 - 16:19
can i rename it?


i will call it " Myanus"
call it BOB? :D

[colt45joe]

why isnt this big news? ive been telling people at my schoo, and nobody believes me, is this really true?

[imported_GS1969]

Originally posted by bujub22+20 March 2004 - 03:02--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (bujub22 &#064; 20 March 2004 - 03:02)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-TheCanuk@19 March 2004 - 16:19
can i rename it?


i will call it " Myanus"
call it BOB? :D[/b][/quote]
I prefer Myanus, no wait a minute, I didn&#39;t mean... but then the ... and ... my…aw never mind...

And to the kids asking how important this is really, well it&#39;s not. As someone mentioned it&#39;s not even an official planet, if scientists still can&#39;t even agree that Pluto is a planet what chance has this pipsqueak got. If it is actually declared a planet, the only significance it will have is that kids will have to memorize a new word for their solar system unit. It’s about as important as if your friend’s cousin’s roommate’s brother bought a chocolate bar.

G
BKK