[meteorite-list] Xena is the 10th New Planet

From: Dawn & Gerald Flaherty <grf2_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Aug 1 19:10:21 2005
Message-ID: <01c901c596ee$26941930$6502a8c0_at_GerryLaptop>

Ron is this a definite?? Jerry
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 10:23 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Xena is the 10th New Planet


>
>
>
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15801892&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=xena-is-10th-new-planet--name_page.html
>
> XENA IS 10TH NEW PLANET
> By Stephen White
> mirror.co.uk (United Kingdom)
> August 1, 2005
>
> ASTRONOMERS have named the solar system's 10th planet Xena - like the
> warrior princess in the 90s cult TV show.
>
> It is nine billion miles from the sun and each orbit takes 560 years.
>
> Scientist Michael Brown said: "This will rewrite the history of
> astronomy text books.
>
> "Kids have had to learn about the nine planets for many years and I am
> now going to give them a little bit more work to do." Xena is icy, rocky
> and bigger than Pluto. And like Pluto, scientists believe its surface is
> methane.
>
> It is also 97 times further from the Sun than Earth and the constant
> temperature is around 240 degrees centigrade below zero.
>
> Mr Brown, planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology,
> added: "This is the first object to be confirmed to be larger than Pluto
> in the outer solar system."
>
> Astronomers think Xena is about 1,700 miles in diameter - Earth is 7,900
> miles. It was detected with a 48 inch telescope after a five-year search.
>
> The last planet to be discovered in our solar system was Pluto in 1930.
>
> Scientists are still arguing over the discovery 16 months ago of another
> "planet" - Sedna believed about 1,250 miles wide. Some say it is too
> small to qualify.
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Received on Mon 01 Aug 2005 07:10:02 PM PDT