• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

10th Planet Discovered Past Pluto

Posted on: Saturday, 30 July 2005, 21:00 CDT

Ten billion miles from the sun, you can hear a school textbook editor screaming.

About a month before students return to class, astronomers at the California Institute of Technology announced yesterday the discovery of a 10th planet, which means Pluto, the icy, forgotten stepchild of the solar system, has a big baby brother.

The new planet is 1 1/2 the size of its closest neighbor and is the first planet discovered since 1930, but doesn't have a name yet.

The planet's Discoverer, Mike Brown, told the Herald last night he submitted a name - which he would not disclose - to the International Astronomical Union, which is deliberating it.

Until then, the planet is called 2003UB313.

He said there is little chance of a corporate bidding war heating up to call the new heavenly body the TDBankNorth Planet or Planet Starbucks.

"I don't think the union would approve that," he said, but asked, "How much are you offering?"

The new planet was first spotted in October 2003 in an area of the solar system known as the Kuiper Belt. But it was so far away it wasn't recognized as a planet until January. Since then, scientsts have studied 2003UB313's size and motions.

Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said the planet's discovery will re-ignite debate over how astronomers define a planet.

"Understand that `planet' is an arbitrary distinction that human beings make," he said. "When does something stop being a planet and start being just a rock?"

He said the Kuiper Belt is an unexplored region that could yield more discoveries.

"Maybe there's a whole number of objects this size in the Kuiper Belt," he said. "We might get a whole lot of planets. That would really mess up the grade-school kids."

Source: Boston Herald

More News in this Category