ABC’s is reporting that astronomers have found a tenth planet circling our sun. It has astronomers in a buzz about what else might be out there. The last planet to be discovered in our solar system was Pluto in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh of the Lowell Observatory. Almost 80 years later number 10 has finally shown itself.
This new planet of ours is circling at a distance of 3.5 to 9 billion miles from the sun on an elliptical orbit. Not only does this new discovery have an egg shaped orbit, but also orbits on a 45 degree angle compared to the rest of the solar orbital planes. The period for this orbit is extremely lengthy when compared to earth’s, with one orbit taking 560 earth years.
Astronomers have come up with a name for this body as well, although it’s scientific name is 2003 UB313 it is commonly referred to as Xena. Yes I said Xena, and wouldn’t you know it , it comes with it’s own moon named Gabrielle, both names coming from the popular tv show Xena: Warrior Princess.
Scientists are admittedly cautious over the news of this new found friend sharing our sun. Historically the governing body of astronomy, known as the International Astronomical Union, has viewed bodies orbiting the sun at further than 40 times the distance of the Sun to the Earth as Trans-Neptunian objects. Under that rule calling this discovery a planet may be in error. But other factors may save this object’s status as a planet, such as size. Although we can determine its physical dimensions through direct observation, its mass is still a mystery. One clue astronomers have is the moon circling the object. There seems to be enough mass to hold its moon in a stable orbit and the physical dimensions are directly observable to be larger than at first assumed. This has some astronomers questioning the current definition of a planet.
Only time will tell how this new discovery is viewed. For the time being, regardless of the technicalities, the object is be referred to as a planet, which is fine with me.
Perihelion
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