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Quaoar is one of the so-called trans-Neptunian objects, small planets orbiting beyond the solar system's outermost planet Neptune. Quaoar is a proud owner of its own moon, the 100-mile-wide Weywot. And a recent observation campaign revealed that it also has a ring of material in its orbit. Quaoar's ring is at a very unusual distance from its parent body. In fact, before astronomers discovered Quaoar's ring in observations from several telescopes conducted between 2018 and 2021, they had thought that it was impossible for a ring to exist at such a distance. With a radius of about 2,420 miles from...

Nasa scientists are searching for an invisible 'Death Star' that circles the Sun, which catapults potentially catastrophic comets at the Earth. The star, also known as Nemesis, is five times the size of Jupiter and could be to blame for the impact that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The bombardment of icy missiles is being blamed by some scientists for mass extinctions of life that they say happen every 26 million years Nemesis is predicted to lie at a distance equal to 25,000 times that of the Earth from the Sun, or a third of a light-year....

IN THE dark reaches of the solar system lurk swarms of hidden worlds. Too small and too distant to reflect sunlight, they have remained under the cover of darkness for billions of years. But now the outer solar system is giving up its secrets. And with them comes an astonishing claim: "It's quite possible that there is a halo of planets surrounding our solar system, just waiting to be found," says Eugene Chiang, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley. What makes Chiang's claim so surprising is the sheer number and size of these planets. Weighing more than...

When is a planet not a planet? That is what astronomers will be asking themselves after yesterday's announcement of the biggest planetary body discovered in the solar system in more than 70 years. The new body, called Quaoar (pronounced Kwah-o-ar), is a round world that orbits the sun every 288 years, at a distance greater than that of any of the nine planets. At 1250 kilometres wide, it is bigger than any of the asteroids. In fact, it is bigger than all the asteroids put together. But it is also just over half the size of the smallest planet in...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It's the biggest thing found orbiting the sun since astronomers discovered Pluto in 1930, but please do not call it a planet. Call it Quaoar. At half the size of Pluto, Quaoar -- pronounced KWAH-o-ar -- is a large celestial object, but not large enough to be a planet, one of its discoverers said in a telephone interview. Quaoar's discovery also calls Pluto's planet status into question, said Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology, who first detected the object on June 4. His findings were presented...

The European Space Agency is considering a unique experiment that could explain strange gravitational phenomena in the outer solar system. Since 1998 astronomers have known that the space probes Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 are following trajectories that cannot be explained by conventional physics. Launched in 1972 and 1973, respectively, to explore the outer planets, the Pioneer craft are now at the edge of the solar system, with Pioneer 10 being some 86 astronomical units (about 13 billion kilometres) from the Sun. But they are not quite where they should be, based on the gravitational pull of the known bodies...

Scientists are over the moon at the W.M. Keck Observatory and the California Institute of Technology over a new discovery of a satellite orbiting the Solar System's 10th planet (2003 UB313). The newly discovered moon orbits the farthest object ever seen in the Solar System. The existence of the moon will help astronomers resolve the question of whether 2003 UB313, temporarily nicknamed "Xena," is more massive than Pluto and hence the 10th planet. A paper describing the discovery was submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters on October 3, 2005. "We were surprised because this is a completely different type of...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 October 9 Quaoar: Large Asteroid in the Outer Solar System Credit: Chad Trujillo & Michael Brown (Caltech) Explanation: Asteroids almost as large as planets are still being discovered in our own Solar System. Recently an asteroid more than half the size of Pluto was found orbiting at a distance only a little further than the Solar System's most distant planet. The large asteroid moves relative to background...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 10/10/02 - Kuwait, Failaka island, Marine murdered, Perp Al-Kandari, Baghdad, Hebron, Udairi, Quaoar BREAKING: Kuwait, Failaka island, Marine murdered, Perp Al-Kandari Baghdad, Hebron, Udairi, Quaoar ======= Kuwait ========= In Kuwait, with Charlie Battery of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit and a M-198 Howitzer field cannon. In Kuwait, at the Udairi Training Range. ========= Failaka island ========= BREAKING: A US Marine was murdered October 8. On Failaka island, off the coast of Kuwait City. By October 9, Kuwaiti Police and US forces captured some of those who helped the two Kuwaitis. ========= Perp...