Posted on 08/18/2006 3:44:29 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Astronomers have found a new member of the Solar System that orbits the Sun beyond Neptune... The object, temporarily named 2000 WR106, was spotted on 28 November. It was picked up by the University of Arizona's Spacewatch team which searches the sky for potentially hazardous objects. Astronomers say that after Pluto, 2000 WR106 is the brightest object of its kind in this particular region of the Solar System... Using the available data, the MPC calculated that the new object was 43 times further from the Sun than the Earth - a distance of about 6.5 billion kilometres (4bn miles). This puts it in a class known as the Trans-Neptunian Objects... if it is similar to other Trans-Neptunian Objects, it could be between 650 and 1,300 km (400 - 800 miles) across... By comparison, Pluto has a diameter of 2,370 km (1,470 miles).
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
I've been browsing the hard drive this afternoon. :')
Eventually given the name Varuna.
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