The Tenth Planet?
Scientists using the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory have discovered what they call a planet larger than Pluto in the far reaches of our solar system.
The planet, currently called 2003 UB313, is a trans-Neptunian object which means all or most if its orbit is beyond that of Neptune. The planet is a member of the Kuiper belt, which also claims Pluto and its satellite Charon as members.
A name for the new planet has been proposed by the scientists to the International Astronomical Union, but has not yet been approved until the IAU can determine the minimum size requirement for a planet.
Do you think 2003 UB313 is a planet? What would you name the 10th planet?
UPDATE: The "planet" has been named Eris. Turns out they have changed the rules for what defines a planet, and we now have only eight planets. Neither Eris or Pluto qualify under the new definitions a planet. To be a “planet” it must:
1. Orbit a sun.
2. Have sufficient mass so that it assumes a nearly round shape.
3. And have sufficient mass to have "cleared the neighborhood around its orbit".
Pluto has not cleared the neighborhood of its orbit of Kuiper Belt Objects, so it is no longer considered a planet.
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I think the planet should be named Zeus.
i THINK IT SHOULD BE NAMED MICKEY. IF THERE IS AN 11TH PLANET U SHOULD CALL IT MINNEY AND IF THERE IS A 12TH ONE IT SHOULD BE NAMED GOOOFY.
i think the tenth planet shoud be called goofy if it is next to ploto\r\n
I agree. It's been a shame that Mickey, Minnie and Goofy have not been on the short list, after all they've contributed to world society. Heck, they weren't even considered as names for SUVs by any manufacturer. And the issue won't be put to rest until Donald, Daisy, Hughie, Louie, Dewey, Crazy, Sneezy, Dippy, Porky,Ponzy, Daffy, and Tweety et al. are all given their due as well.
As I understand my entertainment history, "Mickey" came first, as manifested in "Steamboat Willy". So, by rights, the ninth planet (now no longer so) should have been named, "Mickey".
Subsequent planets of our solar system, on discovery and confirmation, should then have been "Minnie", then "Pluto", and lastly, "Goofy", in that order. Further planets would be "Donald", "Daisy", "Hughie", "Dewie", "Louie", and "Scrooge" (I may have inadvertently omitted some).
Should even more planets be discovered, we could jump companies and provide "Bugs", "Elmer", "Porky", "Petunia", "Daffy", "Sylvester", "Tweetie", "Gran'ma" (or was it "Grannie"?), "Roadrunner", the coyote character, "Yosemite", and the little chicken hawk and giant rooster characters.
If necessary, a third organization could give us "Tom" and "Jerry".
Ron
It should be named goofy.
Really why do you think it should be named goofy? Because all this is doing is teaching you about science.
It's a joke. There's a cartoon character named Pluto, who's kind of a dog, so why not name the planet next to Pluto "Goofy," after another kind-of cartoon dog?
I think that the tenth planet is wierd becauseif it cant scientificly be called a planet people shouldn't be trying to name it after all it could be like an animal after you name it you'll want to keep it so then people won't let scientists tell people it is not a planet and everything will get really mssed up
I think the tenth planet should be named Mickey if it is next to pluto!
thats a bit stupid. You should research where the name "pluto" comes from instead of making a stupid remark about disney. Most of these planets are name after roman gods. Research before commenting anything.
The tenth planet should be called Artemis, you know, the goddess's name means "the hunter"
i totally agree with this one
you are so right.. we need a strong female planet indefinitly.
Yea it should be named after Queen Mary the first queen of England! A.K.A. Bloody Mary! YEA!!!!!
No! i think i called it Sedna The Tenth Planet. oyeah.
I agree!
i think it can be athena
well, i think the planet should be named thor
sora...............the tenth planet its perfect...it needs names like the rest not a gov. name that is really stupid
I think the name should be flupiter
how do you know there is a tenth planet they could just be seeing things?where will the tenth planet be in the univers and what planet is it closes to?
I think the planet should be named New Earth
I think the name Zephyr would be nice.\r\n\r\n
u r so right u should name it that if it was windy
I think it should be named Bob.
i think you are so right
Zeus is the greek name of jupiter and jupiter is already there
I think the new planet should be named Kamino
I think it should be called mystery becauase it will be mystery for a long time.
Where did the name 2003 UB313 come from? Do the numbers and letters mean something?
The temporary names that planets get are based on the date of discovery and are given by the Minor Planet Center according to a well defined (and complicated) formula that includes the original year of discovery, two letters and, if needed, further digits.
The full formula can be found here.
More simply:
"2003" is the year of discovery (note that even though the discovery was in 2003 the scientists did not announce their findings until 2005.)
The "U" means that it was discovered during the half month of October 16 - 31 and the "B" narrows that down even further, to October 17.
"313" refers to the fact that it was the 88th planet-type object discovered between October 16 and October 31. How does 313 come to mean 88? Good question. The "3" in "313" means that there were between 76 and 100 planets discovered between October 16 and October 31. "13" in "313" means the 13th planet in that group starting at 76.
If you think this is a ridiculously hard and silly way to give planets temporary names, I agree with you! I am sure that there is a reason the planet is not given a temporary name like "10/17/03 #88" (or some such) but I have no idea what that reason would be.
By the way, there are rumors floating around the web regarding what the proposed permanent name for 2003 US313 will be. According to Michael Brown, one of the discoverers:
If the object falls under the rules for other Kuiper belt objects, however, it must be named after some figure in a creation mythology. We have decided to attempt to follow that ruling scheme. One such particularly apt name would have been Persephone. In Greek mythology Persephone is the (forcibly abducted) wife of Hades (Roman Pluto) who spends six months each year underground. The mourning of her mother Demeter causes the dead of winter. The new planet is on an orbit that could be described in similar terms; half of the time in the vicinity of Pluto and half of the time much further away. Sadly, the name Persephone was used in 1895 as a name for the 399th known asteroid. The same story can be told for almost any other Greek or Roman god of any consequence Luckily, the world is full of mythological and spiritual traditions. In the past we have named Kuiper belt objects after native American, Inuit, and [minor] Roman gods. Our new proposed name expands to different traditions, still."
At first this does look kind of silly, but it is a shorthand that is possible to memorize so that in a glance you can tell the discovery date of the asteroid. But I agree, I am not convinced it is easier than a simple date and number. Seems like they kept this system for historical reasons, starting from A, B, C and instead of switching over to a pure numbering system as you suggested.
These are provisional names by the way. After a while the IAU will give these objects regular names that consist of a number and a name....such as (3834) ZappaFrank or (9007) JamesBond. I am not kidding....
Check out the list of named asteroids.
Russ
Shed of Science Observatory.
I think what you do is sooo super cool. I want to be just like you whn i grow up. I had no idea what i wanted to do untl i saw your exhibit. THank you so much for your inspiration.
Well, this is kind of interesting. According to the Sunday Independent, Michael Brown the scientist who found this planet back in 2003 wanted to keep it secret for a while longer. Although he intended to publish his finding once his analysis was complete he had to release the news early because of a break-in on his servers. A hacker cracked the security on a website containing information about the discovery and threatened to release the discovery of the public him/herself. Once Brown found out he quickly arranged a public statement announcing the planet.
Brown wants to name the planet Sedna (after the Inuit goddess of animals). However, the International Astronomical Union, who normally governs over these maters, might want to change the name to keep in line with the Greek mythological origins of the other planets.
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bryan kennedy
Science Buzz Site Admin
it should be named Jelgi.
the tenth planet should be called Jordan
That sounds pretty cool. Not! Why would you want to name it after yourself???? Thats right I know why you want it named jordan.
The BBC is reporting that some scientists have a plan to resolve the issue over planet names. Essentially, every big object in our solar system wouldn't be called a planet. Sounds like an interesting proposal, but like everything, people will have to catch on and actually use this new scheme for a while before anything changes.
I think the tenth planet should be named pegasus(you know the flying horse that stays with zeus now, holding his thunder-bolts)
Astronomers from the California Institute of Technology have now discovered 2003 UB313 has a moon.
The moon, 100 times fainter than "Xena" (as the planet is now being called) and orbiting the planet once every couple of weeks, was spotted on September 10, 2005, with the 10-meter Keck II telescope at the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii.
The moon, nicknamed "Gabrielle"-after the fictional Xena's fictional sidekick-is at least one-tenth of the size of Xena.
This is pretty amazing, but the presence of a moon does not help the argument that this object is a planet. Asteroids and minor planets were not known to have companions (moons) until 1994. Since that time 69 binary minor planets have been discovered, and one triple system.
The study of minor planets is the focus of the work at my observatory. Since 2004,I have been involved in the discovery of 4 of these systems, 1089 Tama, 854 Frostia, 1313 Berna, and 3982 Kastel.
Russ
Shed of Science Observatory
What I want to know is whether or not this object has been confirmed to be a planet or is it still being researched? Also, what do you know about the environment of this object? Is it similar to Pluto's environment or is nothing known of it? What is the orbit of the object? Why has it not been discovered before? What do you mean by binary minor planets? Why aren't these discoveries televised nationally, or are they? This is the first I've heard of minor planets so it completly blows my mind. So I apologize if my questions are stupid, irrelevant, or obnoxious. How does an object be considered as a planet? And also, why do we only consider our solar sysem to have 9 planets if there are in fact 69 or more other planets that have been discovered? Once again I apologize if my questions are stupid. It's just that space discovery, exploration, and technology blow my mind and interest me more than anything. I just don't know much about any of this kind of stuff so I have been trying to learn as much as possible from people who actually know what they are talking about and so forth. So please reply if you will.
When I say minor planets... I mean asteroids...they are the same thing.
A binary minor planet is an asteroid that is gravitationally bound to another asteroid. So you have two rocks orbiting each other just like the Earth and its Moon, only on a smaller scale.
Some of the asteroids (minor planets) can be hundreds of kilometers across. There are over 100,000 known asteroids with more being discovered every day, mosly by projects likeLinear and Spacewatch. The best estimates put the number of asteroids in the solar system at 1-2 million. Most of these asteroids are small, not what you would call a planet. But there are over 200 known that are larger than 100 km across. The largest asteroid, Ceres is round and about 1000km across, or about the size of Texas. It looks like a planet.
Here is a recent article about Ceres
The problem is that there is debate over what constitutes a planet in the first place. If Pluto were discovered today, it is doubtful that it would be considered a planet. In any case, there would be a lot of debate about it; just like this new object. Very little is known about Xena other than the approximate size and with the discovery of the moon, calculation of the density of the object will be possible. It orbits the sun once every 560 years.
The discoveries of asteroids and binary asteroids happen every day with little fanfare. Asteroid discoveries just show up in circulars published by the Minor Planet Center here.
Binary asteroid discoveries are announced with a little more recognition by the International Astronomical Union...but not much. For example here is the announcement of the identification of 854 Frostia as a binary asteroid
Asteroid discoveries only make news if it is on collision course with Earth or if it is big enough to be a planet... like Xena. Otherwise the discoveries are made quietly, the announcements are published by the Minor Planet Center and the International Astronomical Union, and later on by larger astronomical journals.
Russ
Shed of Science Observatory
First of all, thanks for replying. I don't understand why these discoveries aren't given more recognition by the media and the public. Do you know how long it would take to travel a light year or to the nearest galxy or solar system with todays technology, if at all possible? Do you think it will ever be possible to travel to other galaxy's in any way, like with a probe or a satellite or even maybe humans? How far out into space can we actually see? These I know are pretty stupid questions but I think about this kind of stuff so I thought I'd ask somebody who might know. Do you know anything about that satellite that is supposed to be launched into outer space in 2007 that is supposed to detect whether or not there are planets in orbit around stars in other galaxy's or solar systems that may harbor life? I don't know the exact details of it, I just learned about this while searching the web for space related websites. I believe I saw it either at msnbc.com or on a website related to NASA. I'm not sure. I'd just like to know as much about this as possible or anything else even remotely related. Any information about any of these questions would be great. Even if it doesn't relate to my questions, any kind of knowledge that you have about space that you would like to share, I would be more than interested to read and hopefully learn from.
Yeah, I have to agree, these discoveries are interesting and important but they are not of interest to the media.
As far as I can tell, the fastest manmade object was the Helios spacecraft launched in 1976. Its peak speed was 241,350 Km/h (150,000 mph). A light year is 9,460,800,000,000 km or ( 5,865,696,000,000 miles) If I did my math correctly, at that speed it would be something like 4,500 years to travel a light year. The nearest galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy is located 2,900,000 light years away. So it would take a long time to get there with current technology. Imagine a spacecraft that could be self sufficient for 180 generations and you get the idea of how difficult that would be. The Andromeda galaxy is the nearest galaxy, most of them are much, much further away. The most distant galaxies we can observe are about 13 billion light years away. Which is also about as far out as can be seen into the universe. Our evidence suggests the universe is 14 billion years old. So that is about the limit of how far we can see. Light from these distant objects have been traveling through space since almost the beginning of the universe, so they can tell us what the early universe was like.
Incidentally, the Andromeda Galaxy is also the most distant object that you can see with your naked eye away from city lights. When you spot the faint fuzzy glow of the galaxy, you are seeing light that has been traveling through space for 3 billion years. Amazing huh?
There are a lot of observatories that are working on the search of extrasolar planets. Extrasolar planets are also being discovered and verified now and then, but not as often as asteroids. There are only nine known to date. The latest announced just a few days ago. Last year I recorded an extrasolar planet transit myself (or the dimming of a star due to the planet passing in front of it) on one of these stars called Tres-1.
Finding these stars is difficult and detecting the subtle dip in brightness due to the planet passing in front of the star is is tricky. So relatively few have been found. But it is important work because we are basing most of our understanding of planets on what we have orbiting our Sun...and we don't really know if our solar system is typical or an unusual example of solar systems throughout our galaxy.
RussD
Shed of Science Observatory
How about Planet X. That what it has been called since the 1950's. There was a theory that "planet X zipped through our gaxaly and crashed into Mars. The planet was split into half, and one half was flug back into deep space the rest formed the astro belt just beyond Mars.
The idea of a Planet X has been around for a long time, and has had a recent surge of popularity with modern doomsayers. The website Bad Astronomy summarizes the arguments against a Planet X pretty well.
The formation of the asteroid belt can be explained without a body crashing into a planet. A common explanation is that asteroids are the stuff left over from the formation of the early solar system. Thier proximity to the enormous gravity of Jupiter prevented them from organizing into a solid planet.
Russ
Shed of Science Observatory
If the tenth planet is larger than Pluto then it should be considered a planet. If the IAU is trying to decide what the minimum size of a planet should be, it should be Pluto's size or something slightly smaller than Pluto.
i'm happy with nine planets but if your going to name it name it Arion.
i think the new planet should be called Tatooine\r\n
that's from Star Wars isnt it? lol! i like ur idea!
It should be named Xena!!!!!
I really think it should be named Persephone!
But as a second choice, how about the hound of the underworld,
Cerberus?
I knew she was out there! And imagine my delight. They found her on my birthday! :-)
Perferable Name(s)
If U ask me, I would name it Artemis. Maybe it'll be Apollo, Hera, Hermes, Cronus, Poseidon, Diana, or something like that. Why? Well, every other planets except Earth has a Greek/Roman mythology. Some of the moons does too. If there's a god/dess of mystery or confusion, that god/dess's name would best fit Planet X.
HERMES!!!!!
i think that the 10th planet should be called kkaeyllleye
you need to take this seriously and dont play cause that is a bootleg name the rule of thumb is dont name anything or person a name that you wouldnt want to have and i know you wouldnt want that name
I think that the new "planet" is a sham!
150000 light years a 100000 diameter planet of iron and steel cloud and rain. Very hot 1200-10000 degrees.
what up.
the planet should be named..
"HALOOBA"
iloveyou
wow!! this was really interesting to me!! i enjoyed it alot!!! Thank you for putting this exhibit here!!!
I think the tenth planet should be called Ukraine.
i think the plANET SHOULD BE Xena\r\n
Reasons?\r\nfoxco
Keep with the Roman tradtion in naming the planet. If you're going to brake with it, then name it Khaless after the Klingon founder of the Klingon Empire.
thats alll wrong there is no tenthplanet shoot there isnt even a 9 planet
it should be named maxico
i think the tenth planet should be named DISCOVERY
i think the tenth planet should be called zenon
i think that it should be named AVIA and well i know its not a great name but at least its not as stupid as the other names \r\ni mean goofy thats for babies
i think the tenth planet should be called chelsea or lindsey, because those are cool and famous names hehehehe
why do they have to name it after some stupid roman or greek god or godess thats rediculus,i mean not many people actually believe in that **** like zues,aphrodite,and hercules wich was only slightly immortal by the way
immortal-unhuman
I think the new planet should be called voture don't know why!!!
Noah agrees!
i think the new planet should be called Grold
call it Ric. ok thats my name but it is cool
i think you should name the 1oth planet r.johnson after my science teacher who is obsessed with this kinda planet thing.
I think it should be named Sedna...You know,the ruler of the seas...Have u read the legend of it?If yes,I tink it's so...unbelievable....But if u don't,u will need to read it...
Dats all I hope to say...
LOve,
FaSyUrA
i think the name should be capt alone but spell it zeenon not zenon
yea i think it should be zeenon.
p.s i am the one who made up zenon, but i like yours better!
i think the tenth planet should be called zerox\r\n
i THINK the tenth planet should be named Zenon
I think it should be named Jordan because its my name and I could get really popular. Just so i will get to know more people.
It should be called Hecate
i think the tenth planet should be called compaq or krupto because they are really cool names.And they are my dogs name.
i think it should be named neptuna
I think the tenth planet shood be named xena
i think its name shud be dersira
Pluto is no longer a planet, which makes UB313 the 10th planet the 9th planet. So we should respectively call UB313....Pluto.
If there was the tenth planet it should be called NASA SECRET LOCATION
I think the planet schould be named Dylan!!!
There are not 10 planets!!!!!!!!!!!
i strongly agree in the definition of iau.and actually thre are not only 12 planet we have many planet in solar system that had not been discover or given a name
Which Pluto?The planet or the character?
I heard about a planet called planet X is that same thing or not and what about Pluto is that still a planet
my name is Dylan and it should be called in honor of me!!
yeah....
i think that the tenth planet should be named MIMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think the new planet should be called Chaya because Chaya means life.
I think it should be called Zenon
i agree
I think it should be named "Hecate." She is one cool goddess.
it should be named big bertha
i just a 15 year old boy and as i understand as i been reading the name is going be xena or lila and since human do not know the define of the word planet it should not be a planet till we come up with the definition.
Is it true that the new planet discovered has a life?can human go there?
Not this planet. It is not likely that there is any life there and we won't be able to travel there for quite a while. Humans haven't even been able to land on Mars just yet.
i think that the 10th planet should be called ATHURA!!
because its greek and the planet names from the past like jupitar.
ORR...name the tenth planet sailor moon.
im dun..
USE MY NAMES THAR NiFTyyYYYY! =]
PEACE
<3333
I think the 10th planet which is actually the 9th should be named pluto.
Other ideal names are Athena, Athens, Elena, or IMPOSTROPHOSY (that sounds cool)
the others are greek names like most of the other planets and some moons
Eris
i know the name should be Xena because it is a pretty name not some idiot name
go xena which is pernonsed zenia
Iwould name it xnae
How far is the planet?
Eris is a "dwarf planet" and is currently alomost its maximum possible distance from the Sun (aphelion) at 9,068,750,419 miles from the Sun. At its closest, it is 3,513,722,487 miles from the Sun. It takes Eris 556.7 years to orbit the Sun.
well it depends what colour the planet is if the planet was blue like neptume or uranus i'd call it atlantis after the long lost city
or i'd call it Ares after the god of war
i think it should be called zenon thats what a lot astronauts want to call it
I love that folks are still writing in to suggest names. But as the post above has been updated to say, it has a name now. The "planet" has been named Eris.
i think the new planet should be named planet-x protipe148 at fralagotor central:smile
To go along with the "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas", we should stick with a P word. How about Pete?
I dont like the name Eris.
They shoulda named it something better.
Like Kactus or Zypherin.
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