View Full Version : Solar Neighborhood Officiall One Planet Larger
Rock Chalk
07-31-2005, 06:58 PM
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article302931.ece
It is a tiny white dot even in the most powerful telescopes, but a dot that moves, albeit slowly, against the background of distant stars.
That means it must be a planet, so now object 2003UB313, spotted two years ago by astronomers in California, has been officially identified as the 10th planet in the solar system, and tentatively christened Xena.
The body is believed to be about 1,700 miles in diameter, about a quarter the size of the Earth, and about one-and-a-half times the size of Pluto, the ninth and last planet to be discovered, in 1930.
But at nearly 10 billion miles out, Xena is the most distant object detected orbiting the Sun, three times as far out as Pluto and 97 times as far out as the Earth. Its full orbit takes 560 years....
Taco John
07-31-2005, 07:00 PM
http://users.frii.com/suzannem/chakram/old_chakram_finger_Xena.jpg
broncogary
07-31-2005, 07:03 PM
http://users.frii.com/suzannem/chakram/old_chakram_finger_Xena.jpg
Uh-oh, man-hands! Yikes!
scorpio
07-31-2005, 07:05 PM
Uh-oh, man-hands! Yikes!
Seriously, we could use her in the Red Zone.
broncogary
07-31-2005, 07:07 PM
Seriously, we could use her in the Red Zone.
Yeah, I'd like to see her red ... LOL
Rock Chalk
07-31-2005, 07:11 PM
I knew Taco was going to chime in with a Xena pic.
Kaylore
07-31-2005, 07:13 PM
Ten planets. The X in Xena is going to ruin all those rhymes that you learn in elementary school to learn the nine planets. Knowitall
elsid13
07-31-2005, 07:52 PM
The way the things work now, it will be auction off to the highest bidder, "New Coke Planet 10" or "Quest 10" or "Invesico Planet at the Solar System"
Odysseus
07-31-2005, 08:55 PM
The way the things work now, it will be auction off to the highest bidder, "New Coke Planet 10" or "Quest 10" or "Invesico Planet at the Solar System"
I can't stand the way that company does business. If ever the Qwest sign is taken off the skyline of Denver I'll be happy. Sad thing is it will probably end up being T-Mobile since they have recently taken over the world. Those guys are sick with that pink thing. It's like the Mary Kay of Telecom.
Taco John
07-31-2005, 08:59 PM
I guess it could be worse... They could be naming the new planet "Sorbo"
Cito Pelon
07-31-2005, 10:12 PM
I was curious to see what path this thread would take.
So far, it's basically doing your best to act stupid.
My first reaction was to be interested, but every other reaction - so far - was to be disdainful. You're afraid of knowledge, jeez that's disgusting. No wonder the US is losing ground when native-born people make their identities by acting stupid.
broncogary
08-01-2005, 05:33 AM
I was curious to see what path this thread would take.
So far, it's basically doing your best to act stupid.
My first reaction was to be interested, but every other reaction - so far - was to be disdainful. You're afraid of knowledge, jeez that's disgusting. No wonder the US is losing ground when native-born people make their identities by acting stupid.
We weren't acting. :kiss:
scorpio
08-01-2005, 05:38 AM
I was curious to see what path this thread would take.
So far, it's basically doing your best to act stupid.
My first reaction was to be interested, but every other reaction - so far - was to be disdainful. You're afraid of knowledge, jeez that's disgusting. No wonder the US is losing ground when native-born people make their identities by acting stupid.
Tell you what, let's go find an astrophysics board and start talking about the Broncos and see how interested people are. Clearly, if nobody is particularly interested, we can extrapolate that everybody in the country disdains football and is afraid of the sport. Oh noes!
Logic isn't your strong suit, is it?
Rock Chalk
08-01-2005, 08:18 AM
Tell you what, let's go find an astrophysics board and start talking about the Broncos and see how interested people are. Clearly, if nobody is particularly interested, we can extrapolate that everybody in the country disdains football and is afraid of the sport. Oh noes!
Logic isn't your strong suit, is it?
Tell you what dip****, when Taco says its not OK to post off topics here (hence, when pre-season starts) then I wont post this **** here.
Until then, suck a dick.
scorpio
08-01-2005, 08:19 AM
Tell you what dip****, when Taco says its not OK to post off topics here (hence, when pre-season starts) then I wont post this **** here.
Until then, suck a dick.
I wasn't even talking to you, tough guy. Do you just have a giant persecution complex or what?
EDIT: There Alec, I went back and quoted the exact post I was replying to. Does that ease the burden on your pea-sized brain?
Broncos Rule
08-01-2005, 03:18 PM
Scorpio was rising to Cito's bait.
How's the fishin'?
enjolras
08-01-2005, 03:33 PM
The more fascinating debate is whether or not it's even a planet...
Rock Chalk
08-01-2005, 08:57 PM
The more fascinating debate is whether or not it's even a planet...
Either our solar system is 10 planets big, or its 8 planets big. Since Pluto is currently deemed a planet by the majority of astronomers (and most of them for nostalgic reasons, we all grew up with 9 planets), "Xena" (Which, btw, is not likely to be picked as a name) will be considered a planet because it is larger, though how much is not yet known.
BUT, this and three other large Kupier belt objects are throwing doubt into that whole thing and scientists are now beginning to rethink what a planet is.
I suspect that Pluto will be de-classified as a planet as more of these objects are discovered. And a good reason, technicality or whatever you want to call it would be that all the traditional planets of the solar system, the ones that are not in doubt (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) are all in the solar plane or very near to it. Pluto, "Xena" and the other large Kupier belt objects are NOT. "Xena" is 45 degrees OFF the solar plane, and has a far more eccentric orbit than even Pluto. Pluto was designated a planet before it was realized how large it is, however was kept as a planet because it did possess a moon. Though how this equates to making it a planet is odd since neither Venus nor Mercury have moons and both are planets. Furthermore, besides the aforementioned Kupier Belt objects, there are two known asteroids as large as Pluto, and at least a dozen objects in the asteroid belt that might be considered planets IF Pluto and the Kupier Belt objects are planets.
None of the planets have circular orbits, but all the traditional ones are very near to circular AND are in the solar plane. Pluto and the other Kupier belt objects, during the course of their revolution around the sun, come INSIDE Neptune's orbit so, mathematically, there are periods of time in the solar history in which Neptune is the farthest planet out, more than Pluto, Xena, and those other three.
To finally further complicate matters, one of the moons of Jupiter has been discovered to have its own electro-magnetic sphere. You know, the electro-magnetic energy surrounding a planet and deflecting the massive radiation from the sun on Earth? The thing that makes the aurora's glow like they do because of its weaker strength at the poles. Anyway, and I cant remember which moon, one of these moons has this and NO OTHER MOON in the solar system is known to have an electro-magnetic sphere. This is caused by an active core in the satellite, SO, is this moon a planet? Traditionally no, because planets revolve around the sun, not other planets. BUT, one must consider this if you are going to start changing the nature of the word to make up for other objects newly discovered. Might as well be as clear as possible.