Sky and Telescope has more.
July 29, 2005 A team of astronomers using the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory and the 8-meter Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, has discovered the largest Kuiper Belt object (KBO) ever.
It is bigger than Pluto, the 9th planet.
The object, designated 2003 UB313, is currently 97 astronomical units (Earth-Sun distances) away — more than twice Pluto's average distance from the Sun. It is a scattered-disk object, meaning that at some point in its history Neptune likely flung it into its highly inclined (44°) orbit. It's currently glowing at magnitude 18.9 in the constellation Cetus.
1 comment:
and arent there scientists who want to take away pluto's status as a planet because it's so small it's like a mishapen garden rock and not planet-like at all. nice to know pluto has a neighbor to complain about its lack of respect among the other planets. ah, just the thing astronomers need to write about so they can get tenure :)
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