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Astronomers discover youthful icy objects in outer solar system
Thaindian ^ | April 23rd, 2008 | ANI / New Scientist

Posted on 05/15/2008 10:11:38 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

According to a report in New Scientist, the youthful looking family of objects were found in the Kuiper Belt, a ring of icy objects beyond Neptune. They appear puzzlingly fresh-faced, despite the fact that they probably formed in a collision more than a billion years ago. The largest member of the family, a rapidly tumbling blimp-shaped object called 2003 EL61, was discovered in 2005. In 2007, astronomers found five smaller objects travelling in similar orbits. Their paths suggested they all formed a single object that was broken apart in a collision more than a billion years ago. Now, a team led by David Rabinowitz of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, US, reported that the brightness of the large object and four of the smaller ones changes little when observed from various points along Earths orbit. That suggests their surfaces are covered with fresh powdery ice no more than 100 million years old. A fresh surface is understandable for the biggest object, 2003 EL61, because it is large enough to hold an atmosphere that vaporises and refreezes regularly. But the four smaller family members are too small to hold atmospheres, said Rabinowitz... Something fishy is going on with this family, said Mike Brown of Caltech in Pasadena, US. We sure have a lot to learn about what happens to ice in the outer solar system, he added.

(Excerpt) Read more at thaindian.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: 2003el61; catastrophism; santa; xplanets
"Fishy" my butt. If they aren't venting new water from inside, then they aren't a billion years old.
1 posted on 05/15/2008 10:11:41 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/2003el61/index

and

Giant Kuiper Belt planetoid Sedna may have formed far beyond Pluto
Physics Org | January 24, 2005 | Southwest Research Institute
Posted on 10/22/2005 1:05:39 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1507383/posts


2 posted on 05/15/2008 10:12:12 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______________________Profile updated Monday, April 28, 2008)
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To: KevinDavis; annie laurie; garbageseeker; Knitting A Conundrum; Viking2002; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...
 
X-Planets
· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic ·

3 posted on 05/15/2008 10:12:32 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______________________Profile updated Monday, April 28, 2008)
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To: SunkenCiv

“I, for one, welcome our new overlords.”


4 posted on 05/15/2008 10:20:46 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Et si omnes ego non)
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To: ClearCase_guy

hey, glad I’m not the only one.


5 posted on 05/15/2008 10:23:37 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______________________Profile updated Monday, April 28, 2008)
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To: SunkenCiv
Their paths suggested they all formed a single object that was broken apart in a collision more than a billion years ago

Is that possible? TO calculate their trajectories back 1 billion years?

6 posted on 05/15/2008 1:15:12 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: ClearCase_guy
“I, for one, welcome our new overlords.”

I will take it over our leadership we are getting soon.
at least the icy overlords can put to rest the global warming theory.

7 posted on 05/15/2008 4:21:19 PM PDT by Steve Van Doorn (*in my best Eric cartman voice* 'I love you guys')
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To: 75thOVI; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; BenLurkin; Berosus; ..
 
Catastrophism
 
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8 posted on 05/15/2008 10:49:16 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______________________Profile updated Monday, April 28, 2008)
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To: BenLurkin

Probably not. And it’s got to be worse for these objects, because it’s largely unknown out that far, and these objects are all on inexplicable orbits.


9 posted on 05/15/2008 11:30:42 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______________________Profile updated Monday, April 28, 2008)
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