Planetoid found in Kuiper Belt, maybe the biggest yet

[SirUlli]

Planetary scientists at the California Institute of Technology and Yale University on Tuesday night discovered a new planetoid in the outer fringes of the solar system, The planetoid, currently known only as 2004 DW, could be even larger than Quaoar -- the current record holder in the area known as the Kuiper Belt -- and is some 4.4 billion miles from Earth

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Sir Ulli

 

[wischeez]

Nice find Ulli🙂

 

[lobadobadingdong]

good read

 

[Spacehead]

The president of our astronomy club has been saying for years now that Pluto should be downgraded from planet status to just another large Kuiper Belt object. I wonder, if we keep finding more large objects out there & learning more & more about the solar system, if one day it will happen.
I think a few years ago one of the major instititions did downgrade it's status but as a rule Pluto is still considered a planet.

Something i keep forgetting to do is look up the exact definition of a planet.


Thanks SirUlli 🙂

 

[silverpig]

One of the definitions of a planet is any object large enough that it forms a roughly spherical shape due to it's own gravitation, but not so large as nuclear fusion begins.