Posted on 07/29/2005 6:21:26 PM PDT by gopwinsin04
A planet larger than Pluto has been discovered in the outlying regions of the solar system. The planet was discovered using the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory near San Diego.
The discovery was announced today by Dr. Mike Brown of the Califorina Institute of Technology. Currently about 97 times further from the sun than the earth, the planet is now the farthest known object in the solar system.
It will be visible by telescope over the next six months and currently is almost directly overhead in the early morning eastern sky in the constellation Cetus.
Dr. Mike Brown (Cal Tech), Chad Trujillo (Gemini Observatory, Hawaii), and David Rabinowitz (Yale University), first photographed the planet with the 48 inch Samuel Oschin Telescope.
However, the object was so far away that the motion was not detected until earlier this year. The scientists have been studying the planet for the last seven months to better estimate its size and motions.
'It's befinitely bigger than Pluto,' said Brown a professor of planetary astronomy.
'Even if it reflected 100 percent of the light reaching it, it would still be bigger than Pluto,' said Brown. 'I'd say its probably about one and a half times the size of Pluto, but we're not sure yet about the final size.'
'We are 100 percent that this is the first object bigger than Pluto ever found in the outer solar system.'
(Excerpt) Read more at nasa.gov ...
well let's see here...
WE have Uranus...
We have Pluto...
We have Mercury and Venus and Saturn and Jupiter..
why don't we name this one something COLD....Pluto just doesn't sound cold to me....
WOO HOOO !!!!
They found Gray Davi$'s home planet!
maybe? ;-)
Let's call it Demoratia, because it's so far from the Sun it's mostly in the dark.
How about Minnie to continue with the Disney theme?
LOL
or planet Michigan, so they can send the state up north there :)
Yes that is a college football slam :)
Let's call it the "Misdirection" planet.
does the space program still have any credibility?
Or 'Planet Fargo, International Falls, Jeunau, or Minot.'
Nah, got to be Mickey to follow Pluto.
Minnie will be planet #11
So9
This must be Jerry Brown's home planet, even Greyout isnt that far out there.
"why don't we name this one something COLD...."
Pabst?
They said at the press conference that the found another object 3/4 the size of Pluto today in the solar system, so there could be another coming!
just so long as we send all the nasty beer there :)
The repository of skunky beer and leftists! You have my vote.
"why don't we name this one something COLD....Pluto just doesn't sound cold to me"
How about "Hillary"
Maybe we could name it Dar Islam, and send them all there ;)
No, we should not name it hillary.
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