The orbit of the object 2008 KV42 is so tilted with respect to the planets that it travels backwards around the Sun. It has been nicknamed "Drac" for "Dracula", since vampires supposedly have the power to walk on walls (Illustration: CFEPS)
Posted on 09/09/2008 1:43:56 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The new object, called 2008 KV42, lies in the Kuiper belt, a ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune. Its orbit is inclined 103.5° to the plane of the Earth's orbit, or ecliptic. That means that as it orbits the Sun, it actually travels in the opposite direction to the planets.
Researchers led by Brett Gladman of the University of British Columbia first spotted the maverick object in May. Observations suggest it is about 50 kilometres across and travels on a path that takes it from the distance of Uranus to more than twice that of Neptune (or between 20 and 70 astronomical units from the Sun, with 1 AU being the Earth-Sun distance)...
Gladman says it was probably born in the same place as Halley-type comets. These comets also travel on retrograde or highly tilted orbits -- lasting between 20 and 200 years, but they come closer to the Sun.
It has been unclear where such comets come from. Computer models suggest they do not arise in either of the two birthplaces of other types of comets -- the Kuiper belt or the much more distant Oort cloud, a shell of of icy bodies lying between 20,000 and 200,000 AU from the Sun.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.newscientist.com ...
The orbit of the object 2008 KV42 is so tilted with respect to the planets that it travels backwards around the Sun. It has been nicknamed "Drac" for "Dracula", since vampires supposedly have the power to walk on walls (Illustration: CFEPS)
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AHH. Must be the planet Utopio. Or could be the Obama Mother ship.
Stellar encounters as the origin of distant Solar System objects in highly eccentric orbits
Nature Magazine | Dec 2/ 2004 | Scott J. Kenyon and Benjamin C. Bromley
Posted on 12/02/2004 4:51:41 PM PST by nicollo
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1293171/posts
Far-out worlds, just waiting to be found
New Scientist | 23 July 2005 (issue date) | Stuart Clark
Posted on 07/20/2005 10:54:18 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1447339/posts
An Unknown Planet Orbits in the Outer Solar System
Great Neck Record (Anton Community Newspapers) | April 13, 2007 | Julian Kane
Posted on 08/05/2007 6:22:36 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
8 posted on 08/05/2007 7:08:08 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1876853/posts?page=8#8
Earth-sized planet predicted beyond Pluto
Cosmos Magazine | Friday, February 29, 2008 | Agence France-Presse
Posted on 03/20/2008 11:43:43 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
19 posted on 03/21/2008 7:50:46 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1989253/posts?page=19#19
-and-
90 posted on 11/27/2006 9:32:52 AM PST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1646385/posts?page=90#90
111 posted on 05/21/2006 8:41:27 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1607979/posts?page=111#111
151 posted on 08/26/2006 5:51:48 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1607979/posts?page=151#151
Must be those Klingons around Uranus....
Keeping my fingers crossed that it’s Obama’s teleprompter.
These objects are from the planet Sdrawkcab.
They’ve finally found the Heechee Gateway!
Either that or the Brennan Monster’s Kobold.
Where’s Van Der Veckan when you need him?
as a maverick i propose renaming it mccain or palin.
“Down in the holes where the Heechee hid....”
It’s an extrasolar illegal immigrant.
So how do we know it’s going “backwards?” Maybe WE’RE going backwards.
.ylekilnu smees tahT
!TON
| Out in the holes where the Heechee hid,
| Out in the caves of the stars,
| Sliding the tunnels they slashed and slid,
| Healing the Heechee-hacked scars,
| We’re coming through!
| Little lost Heechee, we’re looking for you
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
Scientists Find an Icy World Beyond Pluto
NY Times | March 16, 2004 | JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Posted on 03/15/2004 10:40:39 PM PST by neverdem
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1098570/posts
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![Distant object found orbiting Sun backwards [ 2008 KV42 ]](http://space.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn14669/dn14669-1_250.jpg)