New Dwarf Planet Discovered Far Beyond Pluto's Orbit

space.com ^ | 07/11/2016

[BenLurkin]

Pluto isn't quite as lonely as scientists had thought.

Astronomers have discovered another dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt, the ring of icy objects beyond Neptune. But this newfound world, dubbed 2015 RR245, is much more distant than Pluto, orbiting the sun once every 700 Earth years, scientists said. (Pluto completes one lap around the sun every 248 Earth years.)

"The icy worlds beyond Neptune trace how the giant planets formed and then moved out from the sun," discovery team member Michele Bannister, of the University of Victoria in British Columbia, said in a statement. "They let us piece together the history of our solar system."

...

The exact size of 2015 RR245 is not yet known, but the researchers think it's about 435 miles (700 kilometers) wide. Pluto is the largest resident of the Kuiper Belt, with a diameter of 1,474 miles (2,371 km).

The research team first spotted 2015 RR245 in February of this year, while poring over images that the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii took in September 2015 as part of the ongoing Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS).

"There it was on the screen — this dot of light moving so slowly that it had to be at least twice as far as Neptune from the sun," Bannister said.

[Tax-chick]

Howard Hughes?

[Covenantor]

ummm, no.

The radiator cap ornament, a dancing elephant, was designed by the maker’s son, Rembrandt.

[Tax-chick]

Sigmund Freud?

[Covenantor]

No... you are thinking of Lucien Freud.

Shall I wait until the others have taken a stab?

[Tax-chick]

Shall I wait until the others have taken a stab?

That would be nice. There are many people who know more about cars than I do!

I could search using the hints you've given, but that would be unsporting.

[Monkey Face]

That’s not an option. The only person up and around is ol’ Drunk Jim, and besides the fact that he always reeks of alcohol, he doesn’t shower very often. *shudder* My poor sensitive nose has a tough time with old body odors. In every sense of the word “old.”

Maybe I’ll just go have my breathing treatment, instead.

[Tax-chick]

Sounds like you have a good plan. I have been running the vacuum. I’ll go for crickets when PetSmart opens.

[Monkey Face]

Would that be a Deusenberg?

[Covenantor]

Nope... I’ll wait for moose to take a guess.

Another hint:

The maker was Italian but his factory was in France.

[Tax-chick]

John DeLorean?

[Covenantor]

Nope.

John Delorean was barely two years old when this model type was first built, not to mention that the stainless steel gull wing DMC 12, of “Back to the Future” was assembled in Northern Ireland.

[Monkey Face]

Ferrari?

[Tax-chick]

I was actually making an attempt at humor there ;-).

[Tax-chick]

I would like to point out that the very existence of such a person as King Zog of Albania proves that God has a heck of a sense of humor.

[Covenantor]

Those time machine dials are notoriously inaccurate.

;>)

[Covenantor]

I would like to point out that the very existence of such a person as King Zog of Albania proves that God has a heck of a sense of humor.

"Lor! but 'e has such a queenly aspect to 'im, dunnin 'e?"

[Tax-chick]

LOL!

[Tax-chick]

“Would you sell a fancy custom saloon car to this man?”

[Covenantor]

As the maker reacted, “...even refused to sell one to King Zog of Albania, claiming that “the man’s table manners are beyond belief!”

[Tax-chick]

That seems an odd criterion, unless the manufacturer expected Zog to eat in the car.