Posted on 07/16/2025 7:07:41 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
Astronomers have discovered a massive new solar system body located beyond the orbit of Pluto. The weird elongated orbit of the object suggests that if "Planet Nine" exists, it is much further from the sun than thought, or it has been ejected from our planetary system altogether.
The strange orbit of the object, designated 2023 KQ14 and nicknamed "Ammonite," classifies it as a "sednoid." Sednoids are bodies beyond the orbit of the ice giant Neptune, known as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), characterized by a highly eccentric (non-circular) orbit and a distant closest approach to the sun or "perihelion."
The closest distance that 2023 KQ14 ever comes to our star is equivalent to 71 times the distance between Earth and the sun. The sednoid is estimated to be between 136 and 236 miles (220 and 380 kilometers) wide. That makes it 45 times wider than the height of Mount Everest.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Pluto is the ninth planet.
Always will be in my book.
Planet 9 stay with us!
The Trans-Neptunian
Orchestra has always been a
Favorite of mine !!
Plan 9 From Outer Space
Residents of California’s San Fernando Valley are under attack by flying saucers from outer space. The aliens, led by Eros (Dudley Manlove) and his assistant, Tanna (Joanna Lee), intend to conquer the planet by resurrecting corpses in a Hollywood cemetery. The living dead — a cape-wearing ghoul (Bela Lugosi), a vampire (Vampira) and a slow-footed cop (Tor Johnson) who was killed for his nosiness — stalk curious humans who wander into the cemetery looking for evidence of the UFOs.
“I’m a big boy now Johnny.” Tor Johnson, as Inspector Clay
It was good enough for the Gamelons to establish a base.
That’s how it was taught to me, too.
Maybe it was Planet IX until something disturbed its orbit in the deep, deep past. Or maybe it was captured from another system and it’s now missing a planet.
My favourite lines
Colonel Tom Edwards: Why is it so important that you want to contact the governments of our Earth?
Eros: Because of death. Because all you of Earth are idiots!
Jeff Trent: Now you just hold on, Buster.
Well we’re watching this movie
Previous FR thread earlier today stated it was 380 kilometers diameter.
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"To Pluto And Far Beyond" By David H. Levy, Parade, January 15, 2006 -- We don't have a dictionary definition yet that includes all the contingencies. In the wake of the new discovery, however, the International Astronomical Union has set up a group to develop a workable definition of planet. For our part, in consultation with several experienced planetary astronomers, Parade offers this definition: A planet is a body large enough that, when it formed, it condensed under its own gravity to be shaped like a sphere. It orbits a star directly and is not a moon of another planet. The Nine Planets search results
And the movie: Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Right up until it was pulverized by the Yamato’s wave motion gun...
As verified by Nova’s, um, radar-thingies.
Yes. It’s not particularly massive at 380 km. Many moons of the gas giants are much, much larger, as are several asteroids and Kuiper Belt objects.
“The largest asteroid is Ceres, which has a diameter of about 940 kilometers (approximately 584 miles). Other significant large asteroids include Vesta, which is about 530 kilometers (329 miles) in diameter, and Pallas, measuring around 512 kilometers (318 miles) across.”
“Pluto’s diameter is approximately 2,376.6 kilometers (about 1,477 miles).”
“Eris has been measured at 2,326 ± 12 kilometres (1,445 ± 7 mi) in diameter...”
“Quaoar (minor-planet designation: 50000 Quaoar) is a ringed dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt, a ring of many icy planetesimals beyond Neptune. It has an elongated ellipsoidal shape with an average diameter of 1,090 km (680 mi)”
“Makemake... yielded an estimated diameter from 1,360 to 1,480 km.”
So there are two of us.
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