Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

New Planetoid Found Orbiting The Sun

Posted by timothy on from the home-of-the-offworld-colonies dept.

Manhigh writes: "According to Space.com a rather large celestial body has been found orbiting the Sun in the Kuiper belt, beyond Neptune. It will probably never be classified as a planet since even Pluto's status as a planet is somewhat controversial. Here's an excerpt from the article: 'Under one assumption about the object's reflectivity (albedo), 2001 KX76 is probably 788 miles (1,270 kilometers), making it 44 miles larger across than Charon and even bigger than Ceres, the largest known asteroid.'"

8 of 12 comments (clear)

  1. funny by joq · · Score: 3

    2001-07-03 01:42:34 Lagest "object" in existence discovered (articles,space)

    I was reading about this on BBC which posted a peculiar comment. First they said "a large planet was found ..." then they stated it was not a planet but an object. Well hopefully if we ever received visitors they wouldn't say something like. "We've seen aliens ... " and then "We're not sure if they're from another planet ..." in the same article.

    --

    Want Root?
  2. a couple of interesting things by windows · · Score: 2

    According to this link, Pluto and Charon are (were?) considered to be the largest of the objects in the Kuiper Belt. There's actually many objects in this belt and more information can be found here and here. And, IMO, the best site for information about this, and the most complete is this site at NASA.

    This suggests that Pluto and Charon are simply bodies within another asteriod belt and shouldn't have been classified as planets. And thus we shouldn't make the mistake of classifying this, too, as a planet, even though it is larger.

    1. Re:a couple of interesting things by RedWizzard · · Score: 4
      This suggests that Pluto and Charon are simply bodies within another asteriod belt and shouldn't have been classified as planets. And thus we shouldn't make the mistake of classifying this, too, as a planet, even though it is larger.
      Charon is Pluto's moon so it's never been classified as a planet. One of those links of yours is about Chiron (which is a Centaur object - a sort of cross between an asteroid and a comet), but that has never been classified as a major planet either.

      Also note that this object may be slightly larger than Charon but it is considerably smaller than Pluto (Charon is slightly over half the diameter and about 1/7 of the mass of Pluto). The arguments for and against Pluto being a major planet are both compelling and this discovery really doesn't add anything to either side of the debate.

    2. Re:a couple of interesting things by windows · · Score: 2

      My apologies about Charon, I know better than to say it's a planet. ;) My point is neither Pluto nor any other small fragment of material that didn't form a planet has any business being considered a planet. Another thing is that Pluto's orbit is out of the plane of any of the orbits of the other planets not to mention its odd shape. This particular discovery adds nothing to the argument, I think, but the discovery of the belt in 1992 adds something to the argument against Pluto being considered a planet. That's what I was trying to argue for.

  3. Re:I'm gonna name my baby 2001 KX76! by pubudu · · Score: 2
    How do they name these things? 2001 KX76 - how boring! Charon is named - why not this? Don't these astronomers have any creativity left in them? Maybe they're waiting to name it - a 'Name That Planet' contest or something. Or if someone pays enough, they'll name it after them - money got a tourist into space.

    The International Astronomical Union gets to set names, and their FAQ addresses the possibility of buying them (and the question of whether Pluto is a planet or not). There is a description here of how the IAU goes about naming various things.

    --
    ~~~~~~

    under-paid karma whore

  4. Kuiper Express anyone? by Tackhead · · Score: 3
    Hmm, if I read that space.com orbit correctly, this thing's moving closer to the Sun rather than away from it (as Pluto is doing).

    Given the high probability that any Pluto Express spacecraft, if approved, will actually be built and launched in time to make it there before Pluto's atmosphere freezes out, how 'bout a trip to this thing (to see if it has an atmosphere that hasn't frozen out) instead?

    (...possible reddish crud on the surface... very old organics... yummmm...)

    Hell, build and launch two spacecraft and look at 'em both. Marginal cost of the second spacecraft is chickenfeed compared to the design work of building the first. Build a clone of DS1 and let it find its own way there with an ion engine. Just launch something goddamnit... *grumblegrumblegrumble*

    1. Re:Kuiper Express anyone? by Tackhead · · Score: 2
      > Given the high probability that any Pluto Express spacecraft, if approved, will actually be built and launched in time to make it there before Pluto's atmosphere freezes out,

      s/high/near-zero/g.

      (I'd originally intended to write "high probability that ... won't be built". D'oh.)

  5. Rock Collectors by Glenda+Slagg · · Score: 2
    Somehow I don't think There's a New Star in heaven Tonight would have sounded as good if it had been

    There's an Old Lump of Rock Wobbling around the Outer-limits of the Solar System, and it's been there a while...

    --
    - - Sha la la la . . .