Planet X Larger Than Pluto?

nova_planitia writes "The Minor Planet mailing list is buzzing with the discovery by an amateur astronomer of a 17th magnitude object 51 astronomical units from the Sun, tentatively designated 2003 EL61. For those not versed in astronomical lingo, this is an object several times brighter than Pluto even though it is 25% farther out from the Sun (the orbit vizualised by JPL). This means that barring a strangely reflective surface, this object is larger than Pluto, possibly Mars-sized! The debate whether Pluto is a planet is likely to get rekindled by this discovery."

Comments

Re:Broken Link, Naming Contest.

[mauledbydogs]

I think we need to get a little more real with planet naming. Forget the gods, let's call it Dave.

Trick to Finding This Object

[Rob Carr]

Astronomers were using too short a time span between pictures for them to see the change in position of something 51 AU out from the sun. The angle of the orbit to the ecliptic made it harder to find, too.

Since this was found so easily, one has to wonder just how many of them there are out there. This might be only the first of many.

This, by the way, is an excellent reason to call these things TNOs (Trans-Neptunian Objects). Who wants to memorize the 85 planets of our solar system?

Pioneer

[guitaristx]

Could this large object out there possibly be responsible for the Pioneer Anomaly?

Re:Broken Link, Naming Contest.

[phlegmofdiscontent]

Call me old-fashioned, but I still think we should have stuck to the old Greek/Roman mythology naming scheme. Alas, times have changed and now we have moons named after characters by this guy named Shakespeare and minor planets named after Inuit and Native American mythological figures. Still, I think Larry Niven's name for a hypothetical Planet X (read "The Borderlands of Sol", it's quite good) was a good choice. So, I nominate "Persephone" as the name for this new object.

Re:Pluto is a planet?

[Peyna]

So, should I throw away my Linnaeus classification of species and go back to using Aristotle's system of "air, land or water"?

Or maybe we should throw out the periodic table of elements and just go back to earth, wind, fire, water? After all, we did categorize things that way at one time.

As we learn more about the universe, we'll learn that our categorizations need and update to be more coherent and inclusive. While the original models might "work," as we add more variables to the system, there becomes the need to modify our system of classification.

It's happened with elements and species, so why not large objects in the universe as well?

Re:Broken Link, Naming Contest.

[iocat]

Janus, god of the doorway. Planet X is basically the gateway planet to the solar system, and where we'll probably put the customs building when we get around to it.

Pluto and 2003 EL61

[Autonomous Crowhard]

Warning: everything below assumes that the JPL app and orbital estimates are correct.

There does seem to be a point where Pluto's and EL61's orbits get rather close. I wonder if this could point to a potential common origin? Maybe Something Else (tm) passed by and flung 2003 El61 out of the little triad. (I would doubt Pluto and Charon would be the ones tossed because the odds of them staying together would be low) The distance between the orbits might be explained by precession.

Unfortunately the Java app only covers from Jan 1, 1600-2200 so I couldn't test this theory. Can someone else play with the app and look into the distant past for a near miss?

Perfect Name

[airship]

You nailed it with the 'night all the time' bit. But it's also:
(a) In a more eccentric orbit than any other planet.
(b) In a longer orbit than any other planet.
(c) In a more inclined orbit than any other planet.
So it's more eccentric, lazier, and tipsier than any other planet. Bacchus is therefore a perfect name for it.
Oh, and since it's so cold there should be plenty of ice for the alcholic beverages. :)