ICE PLANET ; Biggest thing in solar system since Pluto
Posted on: Saturday, 21 February 2004, 06:00 CST
ASTRONOMERS have found a 1,100-mile wide ball of ice and snow orbiting the outer limits of the solar system.
The sphere 4.4 billion miles from earth - named 2004 DW - is beyond ninth and furthest planet Pluto.
The planetoid - the largest object found in the solar system since Pluto was spotted in 1930 - takes 252 years to complete one orbit of the sun. Mike Brown, the California Institute of Technology astronomer who found it, said: "We simply look for things that move. Even things that are four billion miles away move. They move very little but it's enough." The ice planet was discovered with the 48- inch telescope at the Mount Palomar Observatory outside San Diego.
Preliminary observations suggest it is 10 per cent larger than 800-mile-wide Quaoar found in 2002.
Mr Brown added: "Right now it looks like it could be bigger than Quaoar, which would put it bigger than anything,"
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Posted by Jeorgia on 07/16/2007, 06:10 I think it is good for project,homework and for finding out information for writing books on space and universe. |
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