Strange Object Boosts Kuiper Belt Mystery [ 2002 UX25 ]
Posted on 12/25/2013 3:13:15 PM PST by SunkenCiv
There’s something odd floating around in the outer solar system. Actually, there’s lots of odd things floating around in the outer solar system, but 2002 UX25 is one of the most baffling.
The mid-sized Kuiper belt object (KBO) measures 650 kilometers (400 miles) across, and yet it has a density less than water (less than 1 gram per cubic centimeter). Yes, if you put it in a huge bathtub, 2002 UX25 would float.
...planetary scientist Mike Brown, of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, has taken a measure of 2002 UX25′s density and discovered that it is “the largest solid known object in the solar system with a measured density below that of pure water ice.” Measuring the density of these distant objects are very difficult and require a small moonlet in orbit around the KBO so its orbital characteristics can be accurately measured and KBO density probed. The KBOs satellite was discovered by Hubble in 2005 and follow-up observations by the Keck Observatory in Hawaii refined its orbit.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
Strange Object Boosts Kuiper Belt Mystery [ 2002 UX25 ]
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Wormwood?
if it was hollow it would appear to have far less density for its dimensions
It’s probably packing material for one of the Voyagers ...
Hmmmmm Rhyolite (pumice)?
A Giant Kegger!
Generation ship?
Nah! It’s Oobleck.
its a Romulan scout ship carrying a copy of His real birth certificate....
Its past Uranus and would float in a bathtub
A galactic fart?
Perhaps, but its albedo may have ruled that out. Probably some water ice, with lots of frozen gases.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3105127/posts?page=23#23
:’) Ureaformaldehyde?
If it just had a lot of holes in it, it would appear to have a lower density for its overall dimensions.
Nibiru!
Rama!
He did marry a romulan...
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