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.

[Monkey Face]

Nope. Maybe it’s not available for Win 10.

[HKMk23]

That will be Google’s next project: adding soundscape to Google Earth.

[NoCmpromiz]

Yes..

It works. I didn’t know there were ads there..

[Monkey Face]

I’m going to go have a lie-down with my favorite person: Me! I have been craving salt all day, and I don’t understand that.

My neck has been bothering me the last two days, and I think it must be the weather.

Maybe by this weekend, the monsoons will strike. Almost a month late, for sure. But still, we need the rain.

And now kiddoes, I’m outta here until tomorrow! (Remind me to get a new filter tomorrow and some nite-light bulbs, please! And some air freshener, since I have a coupon for a free can!)

Ta!

[Monkey Face]

Yes, NoC, there ARE ads, and I can’t scroll down because they just keep coming.

So...I’ll try it later. For now, I’m too tired. Off I go, guys...

[NoCmpromiz]

Hopefully you won't get too much exercise...

[Silentgypsy]

Ooh! A beautiful hat kitty!

[Tax-chick]

Siamese. They are superior!

[NoCmpromiz]

In the meantime, down Florida way the alligators have developed sign making skills...

[HKMk23]

Nosing around the grounds in Google Earth — is that an aviary in the garden??

[moose07]

I is indeed. Built in the 1570s and restored, with the garden, in 2001.

[Tax-chick]

[Covenantor]

Tiger leaves shadow of dragon in his wake.

[Tax-chick]

Oooh, symbolically deep!

[moose07]

Morning,

Didn’t know the Tigers had entered the Guanabara bay swimming events in the Rio Olympics.
Nice to see.

[Tax-chick]

LOL! Good morning.

[moose07]

Good Morning ,TC.
Have administration “duties” to perform today. *Yawn*
The Government wants its annual £35 to not maintain the roads.
It doesn’t even pay for the pothole replacement programme, the local councils do that.

[Tax-chick]

We also have city, county, state, and federal government charges for road maintenance and building. None of them is very good at it.

[Monkey Face]

Floof.

Stupid dreams woke me up periodically. I gotta go shower and get them outta my brems.

Then I’ll go to Wally’s for my few things.

[Tax-chick]

I don’t remember what dreams I had, but they were annoying.