10th Planet (Xena) has a Moon

Palomar · 2005-10-01 19:41:47

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051002/ap_ … lanet_moon

*Search isn't yielding up Planet X and this doesn't really belong in "Exoplanet" thread, IMO.

Xena's moon is tentatively nicknamed "Gabrielle."

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2005-10-01 20:08:00

Yup I do remember talking about this under the What to Name planet 10? in free chat.

We were joking about the silly names and it is only after the use of hubble and another that these outer worlds dynamics are being put to the test of are they planets.

This one in particular is not like the usual round expect term for being a planet for it is elongated as well. Most likely due to its moon.

cIclops · 2006-09-30 11:27:12

Mike Brown's very entertaining lecture about his discovery of Xena - wups Eris - is now archived at JPL as The Discovery of "2003 UB313"

John Creighton · 2006-09-30 17:38:30

Mike Brown's very entertaining lecture about his discovery of Xena - wups Eris - is now archived at JPL as The Discovery of "2003 UB313"

That was quite a good video. When I saw it was an hour and a half long my first thought was do I want to watch an hour and a half video but it was quite good. I guess the gist of it is that the new definition of planet is designed to keep the number of planets small. Keep the definition of a planet special. Pluto is excluded because it is part of the (Kepler belt?). To account for the 200 or so objects that are very similar to planet a new definition is created called dwarf plant. Dwarf planet are objects large enough to be round under their own gravity. Eris is the largest dwarf planet even larger then Pluto.

cIclops · 2006-10-01 01:24:59

I guess the gist of it is that the new definition of planet is designed to keep the number of planets small. Keep the definition of a planet special. Pluto is excluded because it is part of the (Kepler belt?). To account for the 200 or so objects that are very similar to planet a new definition is created called dwarf plant. Dwarf planet are objects large enough to be round under their own gravity. Eris is the largest dwarf planet even larger then Pluto.

Mike was saying that the objects in the Solar system are best classified into three main types: planets, dwarf planets and asteroids The number of dwarf planets isn't a factor any more than the much larger number of asteroids. The main difference between a planet and a dwarf planet is that a dwarf planet has not cleared its orbital neighbourhood. As Eris and Pluto are in the Kupier belt they are not planets. On the other hand Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, now becomes a dwarf planet!

John Creighton · 2006-10-01 18:39:28

I thought I’d look up dwarf plant. It seems that so far only three bodies are officially dwarf planets but there are lots of potential objects that might be labeled dwarf planet. See the wikipedia article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_planet
I suppose if there is 200 or so dwarf planets we haven’t found most of them yet.

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#1 2005-10-01 19:41:47

Re: 10th Planet (Xena) has a Moon

#2 2005-10-01 20:08:00

Re: 10th Planet (Xena) has a Moon

#3 2006-09-30 11:27:12

Re: 10th Planet (Xena) has a Moon

#4 2006-09-30 17:38:30

Re: 10th Planet (Xena) has a Moon

#5 2006-10-01 01:24:59

Re: 10th Planet (Xena) has a Moon

#6 2006-10-01 18:39:28

Re: 10th Planet (Xena) has a Moon

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