Astronomers Find a New "Minor Planet" near Neptune

Universe Today ^ | 8/18/08 | Nancy Atkinson

[Hoodat]

UR-ANUS ping

[lormand]

Have they found the Klingons circling Uranus yet?

[RexBeach]

Is it under 18?

[CommieCutter]

Ahh yes the account holder of ‘Itsareligionofpeace’ is from there!
It’s amazing how far we’ve come with this internetS thingy.

[PreciousLiberty]

Interesting stuff. The article didn’t really state a size, is this object > 500 mi. in diameter? That’d put it in the same class as Ceres, the largest asteroid.

No one will pay much attention unless it gets a gravitational slingshot into the inner Solar System. ;-)

[VRWCmember]

Just be careful if it gets close to Uranus.

[Mr. K]

Planet X

[mnehring]

OK, this is really weird because back when I used to read a lot of conspiracy theorists and alternate history books (a decade or more ago), there where several that talked about planet X having a 22 thousand year orbit. I can't remember exactly, but I believe they ‘discovered’ this from old Mesopotamian Cuneiform texts. I'll have to do some digging.

[JRios1968]

Astronomers announced today that a new "minor planet" with an unusual orbit has been found just two billion miles from Earth, closer than Neptune...

[absolootezer0]

from the article:

Scientists believe the object is only 50-100 kilometers (30-60 miles) across.

[BenLurkin]

I bet there are a lot of these. With a 22,000 year orbit, these are true “long period’ comets, many of which may be too far away to see right now.

[K-oneTexas]

I'm no astronomer or scientist but seems I read a while ago that Pluto is about 1,000 miles in diameter and this one is 30-60.

Pluto got a raw deal. Pluto's moons, about one-half the size of Pluto, are bigger that this dwarf.

BRING BACK PLUTO AS A PLANET!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

If you insist on being childish, you might enjoy these headlines:

Neptune Has a Trojan: http://www.universetoday.com/2003/01/10/neptune-has-a-trojan/

Three Trojans Found in Neptune’s Orbit: http://www.universetoday.com/2006/06/15/three-trojans-found-in-neptunes-orbit/

[50sDad]

“My God...it’s full of stars!”

[LibWhacker]

[lormand]

Thanks, I just learned about LaGrangian points because I hadn't a clue as to what trojans were in the astronomy world.

[Eighth Square]

So now we know! Nancy's home planet. Over the eons they have been migrating to San Francisco and are now deeply entrenched. Disguising themselves as environmentalists and politicians their intentions are clear - complete domination of our planet! It must be saved, don't ‘ya see?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Just stay out of the Greek camp:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Trojan_asteroids_(Greek_camp)

[lormand]

They should have named the trailing set of asteroids Greeks instead of Trojans since the Greeks are usually known to come from behind and not lead.

< rim shot >