10th Planet? How ’bout Mini-Planet
By Christopher MoorePreviously I pointed out that NASA confirmed the existence of a 10th planet in our solar system. But although slightly bigger than Pluto, it’s still no heavy-weight.
CNN International reports:
Previous estimates by ground-based telescopes suggested the object known as 2003 UB313 was 30 percent bigger than Pluto.
But the latest measurement by the Hubble Space Telescope has a smaller margin of error and is probably a more accurate estimate, said lead researcher Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology.
According to Hubble, UB313’s diameter measures 1,490 miles (2,397 kilometers), give or take 60 miles (100 kilometers). Pluto is about 1,422 miles (2,288 kilometers) across.
There was some discussion in my previous post about how one would determine the size of a planet. Apparently, a rough approximation can be made from the objects brightness.
The new planet was nicknamed “Xena” by Dr. Brown, which should make some people very happy
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