10th planet in solar system found?

[RZetlin]

I wonder if little green men live on that planet.

The Sun's 10th Planet... Sedna? (http://slashdot.org/articles/04/03/14/1657223.shtml?tid=134&tid=160)

[Bubblegum Girl]

Wow an extra planet. Wait....How many planets were there? 7 or 9? I can't remember.....:sweat:

[Tommy Lawson]

Wow an extra planet. Wait....How many planets were there? 7 or 9? I can't remember.....:sweat:9 "official" planets at the moment, although at one point, there was argument over whether to classify Pluto as a planet, or something else, since it's possible it's an escaped moon from Neptune. This article I found about a planetoid found beyond Pluto may be what "Sedna" is:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/02/20/ice.world.ap/index.html

[Squall]

Also, most of the asteroids in the asteroid belt are quite small, but there are a few behemoths in there that are as big -- or bigger! -- than Pluto or Charon. There are also a few freely orbiting asteroids that are quite big too.

Most people think our solar system is just 9 planets and a star, but there's thousands of large solid objects (millions of solid objects if you count the little ones too!) rotating around our Sun... :)

[Obi]

We should just blow Pluto up to end the debate over whether it's a planet or not.


As for this news....Sedna? What, they got tired of Roman names?

[Stewie]

Didn't they find that a few years ago? Or was that a different tenth planet.
Or was it just theorized?

[Weatherman]

The previous one was just speculation. If this is true, cool. The solar system just got a little bigger, heh.:cool:

[James]

If they don't decide it's just an overweight asteroid....

[Rune]

Very exciting news and the 'is it or isn't it a planet' debate is sure to go on for a good while. It'll be interesting to follow the developments and see if Sedna's orbit is elliptical like Pluto's or regular like the other planets' and if that influences decision.

From stuff read in the past I'd been led to understand that the 'planet X' peculated to lie beyond Pluto was something of a giant like Neptune / Saturn but Sedna is significantly smaller. As Squall said there are a lot of asteriods roaming the solar system, not just in the belt between Jupiter and Mars and it seems Sedna is possibly a Kuiper Belt object, which according to the BBC's site are
'icy planetary bodies that orbit beyond Neptune in the distant region of the Solar System. More than 400 such objects are currently known. They are believed to be remnants of the formation of the Solar System and among the most primitive objects available for study.'
With that in mind it may be that even more planets/planetoids are waiting to be spotted. Fascinates me anyway :)

[purplehairedwonder]

From stuff read in the past I'd been led to understand that the 'planet X' peculated to lie beyond Pluto was something of a giant like Neptune / Saturn but Sedna is significantly smaller.
I thought I remembered hearing about that, but I guess it never existed. *shrugs*

As Squall said there are a lot of asteriods roaming the solar system, not just in the belt between Jupiter and Mars and it seems Sedna is possibly a Kuiper Belt object...
With that in mind it may be that even more planets/planetoids are waiting to be spotted. Fascinates me anyway :)
It probably is a planetoid from the Kuiper Belt, but still it's cool. The fact that they are still finding things like this is fascinating, and reminds me why I want to be an astronomer:p

[TimTwoFace]

I thought this was cool news - I always like big news stories about space exploration and such. This sort of thing brings me right back to Gr. 3 again. :)

I remember, though, that once upon a time, there was a tenth planet discovered named "Charon", but I think it turned out just to be a moon of Pluto.

-Tim

[SlyBoy]

Didn't they find that a few years ago? Or was that a different tenth planet.
Or was it just theorized?
Oh, I remember that well! Here's the scoop on that...

http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/planetx/index.html

[Startrekman700]

I heard that the Tal'shiar was using the planetoid as a base to build ships and attack earth.


>>just kidding<<<

This is why i love space exploration, i hope we find life in other parts of the universe.

[Squall]

I heard that the Tal'shiar was using the planetoid as a base to build ships and attack earth.


>>just kidding<<<

This is why i love space exploration, i hope we find life in other parts of the universe.
Tal'shiar? Are they Hindu or Arab?

[Startrekman700]

nope Romulan.

[RD!]

We can call the planet Persephone, but rapidly nickname it Rupert after some astronomer's parrot — there will be some tediously heart-warming story attached to this — and it will be all very wonderful and lovely.