10th Planet in Solar System Discovered!

blake · Post by **blake** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 12:48 am

Read About it here

I just head about it on the news, here is an article about it. Apparently it is frozen like Pluto, and it hasn't been named yet.

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 1:58 am

What happened to 'Planet X'. That sounds like this recently-discovered planet.

Denethorn · Post by **Denethorn** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 4:49 am

My old physics teacher made a point about 'planets'. We arbitrarily name orbitting debris and rocks planets

. Pluto is effectively an asteroid/meteorite (not sure of the precise technical term

) in orbit of the sun - like many other mundane rocks floating around, only we decided to call it a planet.

I don't think there is a very firm definition of planet, and as such - well I'll call my little rock Bob the newest addition to our solar family

Chimaera182 · Post by **Chimaera182** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:50 am

I thought I remembered hearing that Pluto was a wayward moon or something, too. And there's been "discoveries" of a 10th planet in the solar system for years. One of these days, you know, when we live in like Star Trek or something and can zip over there in five minutes, we'll know for sure.

arno_v · Post by **arno_v** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:56 am

It isn't that shocking I think. It's double as far from the sun as Pluto and it's not that big I guess. It's got a diameter of 3000 km, which doesn't make it much larger than Pluto.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 6:27 am

It's actually smaller than Magrus' stash of alcoholic beverages. Not that this makes it especially insignificant, but...

Chimaera182 · Post by **Chimaera182** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:40 am

lmao dang, that small, huh? Well, look out Jupiter, you've been misplaced as the largest planet in the system.

Luis Antonio · Post by **Luis Antonio** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:00 pm

Artur C Clarke used to have a name for the planet... It was not Persephone, even though this name is ringing on my mind now. I'll be back with it later on...

the_limey · Post by **the_limey** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:03 pm

Yes, this came up a few years ago too; scientists apparently discovered a new planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter- it turned out to be an asteroid.

blake · Post by **blake** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 9:12 pm

But i think that the size on this one is about as large as Pluto, which sets it appart from the previous astroids.

Krystian · Post by **Krystian** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 9:54 am

i heard that they had named the planet "xena"

Denethorn · Post by **Denethorn** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:10 am

So Xena has taken her place in the Roman pantheon

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:14 am

[QUOTE=Krystian]i heard that they had named the planet "xena"[/QUOTE]

It's just what they're calling the planet informally. When it comes time to label it, they'll almost certainly pick a Roman god/goddess to fit in with all the rest (and their satellites).

Fiberfar · Post by **Fiberfar** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:55 am

I wonder why they use the names of roman gods? I say it would be cool if it was named Odin

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 11:08 am

[QUOTE=Fiberfar]I wonder why they use the names of roman gods? I say it would be cool if it was named Odin

[/QUOTE]

Roman because astronomy emerged (or split away) from astrology, just as chemistry emerged from alchemy. Both astrology and alchemy used Roman gods for planets and chemical substances, because in Renaissance (and earlier) times these things were said to be linked and under the influence of a given "force." Jupiter was the largest planet observable with any kind of telescope (which actually predated Galileo), Mars was red "with anger," Mercury had the fastest progress across the sky, Saturn was just damn strange, etc.

Denethorn · Post by **Denethorn** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 12:28 pm

Isn't it also to do with the the fact that the Greeks and Romans worshipped the stars and objects of the sky?

ik911 · Post by **ik911** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 1:51 pm

[QUOTE=Denethorn]Isn't it also to do with the the fact that the Greeks and Romans worshipped the stars and objects of the sky?[/QUOTE]
They did observe them to predict future events or explain earthly happenings and astronomy was quite important, but worshipping; not that I've heard of.

Krystian · Post by **Krystian** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 1:53 pm

ahhh welll this tenth planet hmph it'd be better if they called it Aries although that's just my oppinion

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 2:16 pm

Maybe the 'xena' name is just an expansion on the 'Planet X' that I heard of years ago.

arno_v · Post by **arno_v** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 2:22 pm

What's wrong with 2003 UB313. Somehow I remembered it, so it isn't all bad.