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| Yet Another Tenth Planet Discovery (!) |
| 2005-07-30 |
| Found via Jeff Foust's Space Today, which is probably a good place to go for updates. After 75 years of speculation and false leads, it finally seems to have happened. A team of astronomers using the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory and the 8-meter Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, has discovered the largest Kuiper Belt object (KBO) ever. It is bigger than Pluto, the 9th planet. The object, designated 2003 UB313, is currently 97 astronomical units (Earth-Sun distances) away — more than twice Pluto's average distance from the Sun. It is a scattered-disk object, meaning that at some point in its history Neptune likely flung it into its highly inclined (44°) orbit. It's currently glowing at magnitude 18.9 in the constellation Cetus. Discoverers Michael E. Brown (Caltech), Chad Trujillo (Gemini Observatory), and David Rabinowitz (Yale University) first imaged the object on October 21, 2003, but didn't see it move in the sky until reimaging the same area 15 months later on January 8, 2005. "We tried looking at it with the Spitzer Space Telescope and didn't detect it. So we have an upper limit on the size. It can't be any more than 3,000 kilometers across," says Brown. But the lower limit derived from its brightness — even by assuming its surface is 100 percent reflective — still makes it larger than Pluto, which is 2,250 km (1,400 miles) across... And Yet Another Big KBO And on the planet discovery reported Friday AM: A second big Kuiper Belt discovery also made news today: 2003 EL61. That body, located about 52 a.u. away, was discovered by Brown and his team and was also reported by astronomers at the Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain. It appears to be the third-largest Kuiper Belt object known to date, with about 70 percent of Pluto's diameter — bested only by Pluto itself and 2003 UB313. Moreover, by a great stroke of luck, 2003 EL61 has a tiny satellite revolving around it, at an apparent distance of about 1.5 arcseconds. According to Brown's group, the satellite completes an orbit every 49 days in a nearly circular orbit some 49,500 km (30,760 miles) from the main body. The satellite's orbit has allowed the team to determine the mass of 2003 EL61: about a quarter that of Pluto. Brown and his team have also looked at 2003 EL61 with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Those observations are still being analyzed, but, Brown notes, "The spectra are dominated by water ice. It looks much like [Pluto's moon] Charon." Well, at least it's made out of different stuff than Sedna. They still haven't figured it out. It's probably an isomer of Illudium Phosdex unknown to earth science. |
| Posted by:Phil Fraering |
| #18 I've lost track. Where do these fit on the list of Holiest Sites in Islam? |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-07-30 23:31 |
| #17 Let's remember that Niven adapted The Soft Weapon to the Star Trek cartoon series in the 1970s. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2005-07-30 21:49 |
| #16 >Mizzou Mafia, >Are you one off the fine gents I talked with in the coffee house Sunday AM? No, but AzCat might be familiar with my moniker. I live in Tallinn, Estonia. 3dc, I left Ol' Mizzou's j-school in 2003. As a PhD student, Missourian sports editor, and instructor (J-200, New Media class). Would I have known your son? |
| Posted by: Mizzou Mafia 2005-07-30 19:17 |
| #15 Don't forget Freeman Dyson led Project Orion. The sphere is more stable. Don't need the slip shoots. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-07-30 19:14 |
| #14 Ringworld, hell screw a movie and a SCIFI Channel bastardization of the story. Lets builds the real thing true Dyson "Sphere" or a Dyson shell. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-07-30 18:56 |
| #13 Mizzou Mafia, Are you one off the fine gents I talked with in the coffee house Sunday AM? Enjoy this place. I await the RingWorld movie. Think big! While at it the rest of Niven's "Known Space" is being denied the White Screen. Niven and Jerry did a good job with Project Orion in one of their joint novel's: FootFall. Oh, and should you ever be weighing my young son in Mizzou's journalism dept... Don't hold his old man's opinions against him. He is his own man. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-07-30 18:34 |
| #12 Well, the scifi channel is doing Ringworld, and will probably do the same to it that they did to (for instance) Riverworld, U. K. Leguin, and the last three years or so of Stargate... I'm less than thrilled. |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2005-07-30 18:27 |
| #11 I'm for kicking Pluto out of the planetary count. If you can't stay in the plane of the other planets, you get disqualified. Sounds like these scientists are finding a lot of big snowballs. Ah, Louis Wu. With all the craptaculars at the movies nowadays, when is someone finally going to give Ringworld big-screen treatment? |
| Posted by: Mizzou Mafia 2005-07-30 18:03 |
| #10 But Pluto isn't a planet, is it? Well, not according to the Rose Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. 1st scientist: "Gravity pulls objects together..." 2nd scientist: "No! You know nothing! Gravity sucks objects..." |
| Posted by: Asedwich 2005-07-30 17:50 |
| #9 It's made of scrith. And was build by Pak protectors. (Paging Louis Wu, please call your office.) |
| Posted by: Jonathan 2005-07-30 17:20 |
| #8 It's made of scrith. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-07-30 14:34 |
| #7 .com- I think that's glycerine vibrafoam. Cleans the whole system. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2005-07-30 14:10 |
| #6 I think the Tenth Planet is where the Cybermen come from. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2005-07-30 10:33 |
| #5 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope Wipes tear, the big_Schmidt. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-07-30 08:37 |
| #4 Shhhh! This is where the dead Star Trek actors go. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-07-30 02:30 |
| #3 Good! Now GITMO can be closed down...Islamofacist relocation to new planet(s) pending... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2005-07-30 02:23 |
| #2 But Pluto isn't a planet, is it? Well, not according to the Rose Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. What's going to happen to the planetary mnemonic now? My Very Elegant Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas [Sizzling?] [2-Be-Sure?] [2-Much?]? |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2005-07-30 01:44 |
| #1 I'll place my bet on glistening vibrafoam. The albedo sounds about right. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-07-30 01:20 |