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Mysterious deep-space object raises questions on Solar System's origins
PhysOrg ^ | December 13, 2005 | AFP

Posted on 12/14/2005 10:12:29 AM PST by SunkenCiv

Astronomers working in Canada, France and the United States said they had found a small deep-space object, nicknamed Buffy, that challenges mainstream theories about the evolution of the Solar System. The rock lies in the Kuiper Belt, the name for the flock of objects beyond Neptune's orbit that are believed to be leftover rubble from the Solar System's building phase and are the source for many comets... Measuring between 500 and 1,000 kilometers (300 to 600 miles) across and taking about 440 years to make just one circuit of the Sun, Buffy is remarkable not for its size -- around half a dozen identified Kuiper Belt objects are bigger -- but for its location and orbital tilt... Buffy has an almost perfect circular orbit and encircles the Sun at an extreme tilt, at 47 degrees to the orbital plane of the planets as they swing around the Sun... Buffy is the temporary name given by the team for the object, whose official designation by the Paris-based International Astronomical Union (IAU) is 2004 XR 190. Its orbit is in a relatively narrow range of between 52 and and 62 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun (an AU is a standard measurement, being that of the distance between the Earth and the Sun, of approximately 150 million kilometers, or 93 million miles). By comparison, another "extended scattered disk" member called Sedna swings out to as far as 900 AU before coming as close to the Sun as 76 AU.

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


TOPICS: Astronomy; History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: astronomy; buffy; catastrophism; godsgravesglyphs; origins; planetx; xplanets
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1 posted on 12/14/2005 10:12:30 AM PST by SunkenCiv
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To: tricky_k_1972; KevinDavis; 75thOVI; AndrewC; Avoiding_Sulla; BenLurkin; Berosus; CGVet58; ...
Astronomy and Catastrophism topic, not going to do a GGG ping, just ping a few people who may be interested.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

2 posted on 12/14/2005 10:15:04 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("In silence, and at night, the Conscience feels that life should soar to nobler ends than Power.")
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To: RadioAstronomer

ping


3 posted on 12/14/2005 10:21:35 AM PST by saganite (The poster formerly known as Arkie 2)
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To: SunkenCiv
nicknamed Buffy

Well, gag me with a spoon.

4 posted on 12/14/2005 10:27:53 AM PST by atomicpossum (Replies should be as pedantic as possible. I love that so much.)
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To: SunkenCiv

5 posted on 12/14/2005 10:54:35 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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Astronomers poised to apply novel way to look for comets beyond Neptune
EurekAlert | 7-Jan-2003 | Anne Stark
Posted on 11/07/2005 10:41:04 PM PST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1517866/posts

Giant Kuiper Belt planetoid Sedna may have formed far beyond Pluto
Physics Org (http://www.physorg.com/) | 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

Tenth Planet Has a Moon!
Space and Earth science | October 03, 2005 | E-Mail Newsletter
Posted on 10/22/2005 9:33:39 PM PDT by vannrox
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1507542/posts


6 posted on 12/14/2005 11:04:55 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("In silence, and at night, the Conscience feels that life should soar to nobler ends than Power.")
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To: SunkenCiv
Kuiper Belt, .. believed to be leftover rubble from the Solar System's building phase

I think it's the remains of a planet that broke apart, perhaps due to a collision.

7 posted on 12/14/2005 12:34:39 PM PST by aimhigh
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To: SunkenCiv
believed to be leftover rubble from the Solar System's building phase

I didn't know the contractor for my master suite project had been doing business back then.

8 posted on 12/14/2005 1:52:15 PM PST by steve-b (A desire not to butt into other people's business is eighty percent of all human wisdom)
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To: SunkenCiv

One possibility, the discoverers say, is that, in the infant days of the Solar System, the nascent Neptune lay much closer to the Sun.

Hmmmm...as did the Earth when the earth year had only 10 months of 30 days. Wonder what might have bumped into it?


9 posted on 12/14/2005 5:00:11 PM PST by Fred Nerks (Read THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD free pdf download - link on My Page)
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To: martin_fierro

10 posted on 12/14/2005 5:06:48 PM PST by Tribune7
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To: Tribune7

Nice moonlets


11 posted on 12/14/2005 5:40:25 PM PST by hattend (Dang, it's cold up here.)
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To: RightWhale; Brett66; xrp; gdc314; sionnsar; anymouse; NonZeroSum; jimkress; discostu; The_Victor; ..

12 posted on 12/14/2005 7:37:30 PM PST by KevinDavis (http://www.cafepress.com/spacefuture)
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To: aimhigh; atomicpossum; Fred Nerks; martin_fierro; steve-b
aimhigh: I think it's the remains of a planet that broke apart, perhaps due to a collision.
Perhaps a minor planet / asteroid.
steve-b: I didn't know the contractor for my master suite project had been doing business back then.
And he's still not done.
Fred Nerks: One possibility, the discoverers say, is that, in the infant days of the Solar System, the nascent Neptune lay much closer to the Sun.
I thought you'd like that. :')
martin_fierro: [image of The Monolith]
I guess we'd better attempt no landing there...
atomicpossum: Well, gag me with a spoon.
Oddly enough, as I searched for older topics using Google, I found at least one page which claimed that FReepers hate Buffy the Vampires Layer. I don't, although I do think the show is abysmally stupid.
13 posted on 12/14/2005 10:34:17 PM PST by SunkenCiv ("In silence, and at night, the Conscience feels that life should soar to nobler ends than Power.")
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To: SunkenCiv

Buffy the Vampires Layer...LOL!


14 posted on 12/14/2005 10:39:56 PM PST by Fred Nerks (Read THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD free pdf download - link on My Page)
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To: Fred Nerks

> as did the Earth when the earth year had only 10 months of 30 days. Wonder what might have bumped into it?


Nothing. What has happened is that the sun has lost considerable mass over the last 5 billion years, whereas the planets have not lost much in the way of kinetic energy or angular momentum WRT their orbits. So as the sun lost mass, the planets sloooowly drifted out. A process which will continue.


15 posted on 12/15/2005 6:33:24 AM PST by orionblamblam ("You're the poster boy for what ID would turn out if it were taught in our schools." VadeRetro)
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To: orionblamblam; Fred Nerks

Bodies in prograde orbits enjoy a transfer of momentum from the rotation parent body, and migrate outward. However, that is a slow process. It hasn't anything to do with any loss of mass of the Sun. Also, the atmosphere of Jupiter is enriched in noble gases, and members of the team which discovered that suggested that it indicated an origin for Jupiter that lay past the outer planets today.


16 posted on 12/15/2005 9:15:47 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("In silence, and at night, the Conscience feels that life should soar to nobler ends than Power.")
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To: Fred Nerks

Hey, I steal from the best. ;') Actually, I adapted that from some sitcom joke, but forgot to put in the possessive apostrophe. :'o


17 posted on 12/15/2005 9:16:57 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("In silence, and at night, the Conscience feels that life should soar to nobler ends than Power.")
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To: SunkenCiv

>Bodies in prograde orbits enjoy a transfer of momentum from the rotation parent body, and migrate outward. However, that is a slow process. It hasn't anything to do with any loss of mass of the Sun.

True. Nevertheless, the sun has lost considerable mass, and this process has *also* led to the outwards progression of planetary orbits. There is also photon pressure and the solar winds; while trivial forces compared to the mass of the planets, nevertheless over billions of years, some effects can be seen.


18 posted on 12/15/2005 9:18:25 AM PST by orionblamblam (A furore Normannorum libra nos, Domine)
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To: SunkenCiv
Buffy has an almost perfect circular orbit and encircles the Sun at an extreme tilt, at 47 degrees to the orbital plane of the planets as they swing around the Sun...

This is very odd. Circular is no big deal; neither is a 47 degree inclination. It's the combination of the two that need an explanation.

19 posted on 12/15/2005 9:24:25 AM PST by r9etb
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Spitzer Sees the Aftermath of a Planetary Collision
Universe Today | Jan. 10, 2005 | Dolores Beasley and Gay Yee Hill
Posted on 01/13/2005 8:50:18 PM PST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1320521/posts

Red Planet's Ancient Equator Located
Scientific American (online) | April 20, 2005 | Sarah Graham
Posted on 04/24/2005 8:18:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1390424/posts


20 posted on 12/15/2005 9:40:49 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("In silence, and at night, the Conscience feels that life should soar to nobler ends than Power.")
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