30 July 2005

10th Planet in the Sol System

Astronomers in the US announced the discovery (or rather confirmation of) a 10th planet in our solar system. Its current (and uninspired) name is 2003 UB313, though this will likely change. It is no wonder it took so long to find a planetoid this size, it is 3x the distance of Pluto.

For any of my readers, you might remember my post in Febuary about what exactly would constitute an actual 'planet' vs a planetoid or 'object'.
It seems by todays announcement that the bar has been set on something Pluto sized or larger, as Sedna, Quaoar, and others half Plutos size are not recognized as actual 'planets'.

Theres a good articles on this at theBBC, Yahoo!, and you can see an image of it (and an artists depiction) here .

Lets see if the classification of what exactly makes a planet can now finally be reviewed in light of this discovery. And keep your eyes peeled, there are bound to be more discoveries like this one that will crop up in the next 15 years.