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.

[ArGee]

Kids. You can’t live with ‘em and you can’t shoot ‘em.

We have 2 we’d love to trade out.

[Monkey Face]

I’ll keep my kids, but I sure don’t think much of their choices for “life partners.” GAH!

But. They had the right to choose, and I didn’t, and won’t, interfere.

[Tax-chick]

I’ll be out again this evening at the Bilingual Supplementary Sacrament Class. It would be nice if all the students showed up ...

[NoCmpromiz]

That’s how it goes.

The one helping at the top of the ladder isn’t an issue. It’s the bottom dwellers.. ;-)

[Tax-chick]

It seems as if falling off the ladder onto the cats would hurt them more than you.

[null and void]

[null and void]

Is there nowhere left where the government doesn’t think it knows how to run my life better than I do?

Merely asking the question indicates you are not a loyal subject.

[Tax-chick]

Too true.

[null and void]

brother to dragons, and a companion to owls

[NicknamedBob]

"Me? I’m not having any trouble with bubbling up."

I always think of you as the effervescent type.

You've also asserted your impressive buoyancy. I rest my case.

[Silentgypsy]

When you can’t recall that the part of speech is called a preposition, you’ll be slipping. It took at least five minutes to fish that from between convolutions last night. Urk.

[Silentgypsy]

Cougar-in-larval-stage?

[NoCmpromiz]

[Tax-chick]

I don’t associate with owls much, but I’m never more than six feet from a spider.

[Tax-chick]

Cougar-in-larval-stage?

If he was cougar-sized, he'd be gorgeous, but I wouldn't want him around the house.

[Covenantor]

[Tax-chick]

Today's battered rescue-kitten was restored to health and now enjoys playing in running water.

[Tax-chick]

The bear looks disgusted.

[NicknamedBob]

"... but I’m never more than six feet from a spider."

The line-up for a tooth-brush scrubbing must be extensive.

[Tax-chick]

All those legs keep moving around; I’m never sure I’ve cleaned them all.