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The Tenth Planet Shrinks Under Hubble's Gaze

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the under-the-microscope dept.

starexplorer2001 writes "An object called the 10th planet by some astronomers is not as large as previously thought. New images of 2003 UB313 (aka Xena) were delivered by the Hubble Telescope and showed up as only 1.5 pixels! Now, some are calling to demote Pluto and kill Xena."

1 of 318 comments (clear)

  1. Re:A planet by any other name.... by MrMr · · Score: 1, Troll

    If ever a term was crying out for a rigid, ostensive definition from astronomers, it's 'planet'

    You must be a lawyer. Or perhaps you were just brainwashed by the patent department.

    I suggest that, rather than founding an interplanetary comission (so the Xenians may or may not be in it) for the ultimate definition of planethood, we learn to live with a universe that has a number various sized lumps of matter in it, and use language to explain more precisely what we mean in a particular case should the need arise.