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Sedna May Have A Moon

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the chains-of-reasoning dept.

ArrayIndexOutOfBound writes "The newly found planet Sedna may have a moon. It appears that most astronomers argue that Sedna is only another proof that neither Sedna nor Pluto are really planets. Interestingly, the planet has been found by an 'automated sky survey telescope'..." SYSS Mouse points to a NASA page with more information about "our potential 10th planet. ... It is 130 billion miles away from the sun (900 times Earth's distance from the sun) and has a 10,500 years orbit, compared to Pluto's 230 years around the sun."

8 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. Value out of bounds by shadowbearer · · Score: 5, Informative

    Um, the article said it was 13 billion miles out, not 130 billion (now discovering something that size 130 billion miles out would be a real hell of an achievement :)

    There's some theorizing that this may be part of the inner Oort shell; I think it more likely that at that distance it's an outer member of the Kuiper bodies.

    Given the highly elliptical orbit, it's size, and it's apparently odd surface color, it's also possible that it's a body captured by the sun some hundreds of millions or billions of years ago. Now *that'd* be neat.

    SB

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    1. Re:Value out of bounds by Pumpernickle · · Score: 5, Informative
      That's true, but not entirely.

      At its most distant, Sedna is 130 billion km (84 billion miles) from the Sun, which is 900 times Earth's solar distance (149 million km or 93 million miles).


      They were just quoting the wrong part of the article in the wrong place.
    2. Re:Value out of bounds by IamNotWitchboy · · Score: 5, Informative
      From an article about Sedna featured on Scotsman News International appeared on Google News which displays the following paragraph:

      Dr Michael Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who led the NASA-funded research, said: "The sun appears so small from that distance that you could completely block it out with the head of a pin."

      The temperature on Sedna never rises above -400C, making it the coldest known object in the solar system.

      It must be an extremly bizarre planet because its temperature is WAY below the absolute zero which is known to be at -273 C

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    3. Re:Value out of bounds by phyrestang · · Score: 5, Informative

      I should think that it was a typo. They probably meant -400F, as absolute zero is -459 Fahrenheit.

  2. Incorrect links by Rewbob · · Score: 5, Informative

    The first link is about an object named "2004 DW". The second link is about Sedna (previous known as 2003 VB12).

    The newly found moon is orbiting Sedna, NOT 2004 DW.
    The links in the slashdot article are misleading.

    1. Re:Incorrect links by kalidasa · · Score: 5, Informative

      They haven't actually *found* a moon around Sedna yet, they're just guessing there's one there because the rotational period is very slow, suggesting that it might have a relationship with a satellite similar to Pluto's with Charon. 2004 DW is another big object (TNO).

  3. That's no moon! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's a space station.

  4. Sedna has a moon... by k4_pacific · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...therefore it is a planet.

    Per Webster's:

    moon, n. a natural satellite of a planet

    So there.

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