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10th Planet in Solar System Discovered!

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 12:48 am
by blake
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.

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 1:58 am
by Ravager
What happened to 'Planet X'. That sounds like this recently-discovered planet.

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 4:49 am
by Denethorn
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 :confused: ) 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 :D

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:50 am
by Chimaera182
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.

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:56 am
by arno_v
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.

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 6:27 am
by fable
It's actually smaller than Magrus' stash of alcoholic beverages. Not that this makes it especially insignificant, but...

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:40 am
by Chimaera182
lmao dang, that small, huh? Well, look out Jupiter, you've been misplaced as the largest planet in the system.

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:00 pm
by Luis Antonio
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...

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:03 pm
by the_limey
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.

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 9:12 pm
by blake
But i think that the size on this one is about as large as Pluto, which sets it appart from the previous astroids.

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 9:54 am
by Krystian
i heard that they had named the planet "xena"

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:10 am
by Denethorn
So Xena has taken her place in the Roman pantheon :D

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:14 am
by fable
[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).

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:55 am
by Fiberfar
I wonder why they use the names of roman gods? I say it would be cool if it was named Odin :D

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 11:08 am
by fable
[QUOTE=Fiberfar]I wonder why they use the names of roman gods? I say it would be cool if it was named Odin :D [/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. ;)

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 12:28 pm
by Denethorn
Isn't it also to do with the the fact that the Greeks and Romans worshipped the stars and objects of the sky?

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 1:51 pm
by ik911
[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.

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 1:53 pm
by Krystian
ahhh welll this tenth planet hmph it'd be better if they called it Aries although that's just my oppinion :P

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 2:16 pm
by Ravager
Maybe the 'xena' name is just an expansion on the 'Planet X' that I heard of years ago. :confused:

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 2:22 pm
by arno_v
What's wrong with 2003 UB313. Somehow I remembered it, so it isn't all bad.