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Newly Found Planetoid Possibly Larger than Quaoar

Posted by michael on from the deep-space-one dept.

I am Jack's username writes "A newly discovered planetoid (Google news cluster) 2004 DW in the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, where some think objects larger than Pluto exist, may be larger than Quaoar - making it the second largest known trans-Neptunian object and 18th largest object in the solar system."

1 of 46 comments (clear)

  1. Question for the astronomers among us... by Baron_Yam · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Given that stars (excluding the Sun) are point sources as far as our current telescopes are concerned, and these KBOs are discs... what are the odds of a KBO eclipsing a given star during a standard observation period?

    Things I don't know: 1) density of KBOs vs stars 2) apparent speed of KBOs relative to the stars beyond them. 3) The average length of time any star is in a field of observation at a major telescope.

    Actually, there's probably a lot more I don't know, that's just what comes to mind at the moment.