Rumor of Planet X, a newly found planet (2 years ago)

[bountyhawk]

I keep hearing of this newly found planet called Planet X, which is beyond Pluto, but the rumor started this year, but in the rumor i hear it was found 2 years ago, i already tryed to do a search on it, i cant find anything on it, atall, is there really a planet beyond pluto thats newly found...

 

[baktothemoon]

It exists, google 2003UB313. That's it's name right now but there is debate over if it, or even Pluto for that matter, is a planet. It is technically a Kuiper belt object.

 

[chriscdc]

Try searching for Xena or Sedna. Basically they are a bunch of large Kuiper belt objects. This is probably not the right thread to be asking this in though. Try the ask the astronomer thread.

 

[bountyhawk]

Interesting i never knew that, can you give me the link to this newly found planet tho...<br /><br />and i had no idea Pluto was an object.....<br /><br />i dont do much searching but i wander alot...

 

[baktothemoon]

Here's a link:<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003UB313<br /><br />And all you need to know about Pluto:<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto#The_Pluto_debate<br /><br />Hope that helps you.

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow">I keep hearing of this newly found planet called Planet X</font>/i><br /><br />The issue has spawned a major debate on what the definition of a planet is. Is Pluto a planet or a Kuiper belt object? (A decision is due this September) If Pluto is a planet, then there are probably several more Pluto-like planets such as Xena, Sedna, and others. If Xena is not a planet, then Pluto probably isn't a planet. Either way, the science books will need to be rewritten.<br /><br />There is another story in this story: Using computers to sift though mountains of astronomical data to look for interesting patterns. In the past astronomers would look manually flip back and forth between two images of of the same part of the sky taken at different times and look for a subtle change (e.g., movement of a point of light). Mind numbing. Computers are quite good at this, so expect to see more of this type of activity in the future. I would not be surprised to see a "Seti at Home" type project to cull through mountains of data to look for planetoids, comets, meteor strikes on the Moon, etc.<br /><br />Here are other links on the topic:<br />http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060608_planet_definition.html<br />http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn8681.html<br />http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/optics/staff/mvandam/gabrielle<br /></i>