- Jan 7, 2002
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The new planet thread has been covered here....
'New planet' may have a moon
The distant object that some astronomers think could be the Solar System's 10th planet may have a moon.
The new planetary candidate, which has been named Sedna, rotates more slowly on itself than expected, suggesting it may have a satellite orbiting it.
One of the scientists who found Sedna has been giving further details of its discovery at a news conference.
Observations show it measures less than 1,700km (about 1,000 miles) in diameter, which is smaller than Pluto.
"We think that there's evidence there is a satellite around Sedna," said Dr Mike Brown, of the California Institute of Technology, US, and leader of the research team that found the body.
"We're hoping in the very near future to get some observations from the Hubble Space Telescope that should put that question to rest."
Sedna was first seen on 14 November 2003 with the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope at California's Mount Palomar Observatory. Astronomers from the California Institute of Technology, Yale University and the Gemini Observatory were involved in the discovery.
Sedna, which is named after the Inuit goddess of the ocean, is both very shiny and very red - the reddest object in the Solar System after Mars.
'New planet' may have a moon
The distant object that some astronomers think could be the Solar System's 10th planet may have a moon.
The new planetary candidate, which has been named Sedna, rotates more slowly on itself than expected, suggesting it may have a satellite orbiting it.
One of the scientists who found Sedna has been giving further details of its discovery at a news conference.
Observations show it measures less than 1,700km (about 1,000 miles) in diameter, which is smaller than Pluto.
"We think that there's evidence there is a satellite around Sedna," said Dr Mike Brown, of the California Institute of Technology, US, and leader of the research team that found the body.
"We're hoping in the very near future to get some observations from the Hubble Space Telescope that should put that question to rest."
Sedna was first seen on 14 November 2003 with the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope at California's Mount Palomar Observatory. Astronomers from the California Institute of Technology, Yale University and the Gemini Observatory were involved in the discovery.
Sedna, which is named after the Inuit goddess of the ocean, is both very shiny and very red - the reddest object in the Solar System after Mars.
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