They're calling it "Sedna" for the moment.... What kinda horseshit name is that?!? If they want a name, they should use Persephone.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
Well...this definitely isint "Planet X". Something with a big gravity well causes Uranus' orbt to slightly "wobble" every now and then.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
The article says that the object is still smaller than Pluto.
Seeing as how Pluto isn't really a planet, I hope that they don't start considering this "Sedna" a planet, either...
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Registered: Nov 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Topher: What ever happened to Quaoar?
The scientific community realized that was a horrendous name for a solar system planet, and disqualified it from the list as a result.
Really, though, we do need some sort of standard. I'd say Pluto is large enough to be a planet, or at least should be considered one by virtue of having such a large moon. And with its orbit, it's sort of like the eccentric cousin of the solar system, one who I'd hate to see written off.
I'd say we ought to pick an arbitrary value such as 2000km as the minimum planet size. The largest asteroid, for instance, is just 900km, so the extra grand can help keep out most interlopers.
We could bump that up further, of course, so that Pluto is excluded. But, I'd be prone to try to get Pluto in as an exception, perhaps under a "you must have a moon this big to ride" rule.
And, I'd vote that Oort Cloud objects should be disqualified except in extreme circumstances, which should work well with the size limit to keep out planet-wannabes.
-------------------- . . . ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
On the local news tonight, they showed a graphic (probably from NASA or someone) comparing the sizes of Earth's moon, Pluto, Quaoar, and Sedna. So Quaoar hasn't been forgotten. But, really, they ought to just throw the whole lot of them off the planets list. I mean, the only reason Pluto was on there in the first place is that they were looking for a planet out there, and they didn't know about the Kuiper Belt.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Plus Pluto was probably named after Percival Lowell.
...it's a looong story.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
Well, it won't get finished unless you start it....
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
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quote:Originally posted by Ritten: Well, it won't get finished unless you start it....
First there were the dinosaurs, but they became big and fat, then an asteroid came and wiped them out, then the Arabs came and made oil...
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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