cactuswatcher (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cactuswatcher) wrote2004-03-16 06:50 am
cactuswatcher) wrote2004-03-16 06:50 am
Sedna
Naturally, the national news I watched last night concentrated on telling us that Richard Nixon didn't like anti-war types like John Kerry, 30 years ago. Boy, stop the presses! That will certainly overturn our view of history.
I did catch an item on the Spanish channel's news magazine and in the newspaper this morning about the discovery of a very sizable planetoid that has been named Sedna for an Inuit goddess. The big headline in the paper asks, "Planet or Planetoid? Experts debate." Isn't that a lot like getting huffy over whether a stream is a big creek or a small river? Nobody really cares. So, scientists, just pick one and let us know what you've decided. I've heard that some astronomers are unhappy with calling Pluto a planet, now. According to best guesses now, Pluto is only about half as massive as the moon. Sedna is supposed to be 3/4 the size of Pluto.
The projected orbit has a period of 10,500 years which means you wouldn't get many birthday presents based on Sedna's years. It's about as close to the sun now as it ever gets, around 8,000,000,000 miles, so not a great spot to look for warm beaches.
Since it was discovered near perihelion there may be thousands of rocks out there just like it, too far away to noticed yet. Another somewhat smaller rock now called Quaoar was discovered back in 2002.
I did catch an item on the Spanish channel's news magazine and in the newspaper this morning about the discovery of a very sizable planetoid that has been named Sedna for an Inuit goddess. The big headline in the paper asks, "Planet or Planetoid? Experts debate." Isn't that a lot like getting huffy over whether a stream is a big creek or a small river? Nobody really cares. So, scientists, just pick one and let us know what you've decided. I've heard that some astronomers are unhappy with calling Pluto a planet, now. According to best guesses now, Pluto is only about half as massive as the moon. Sedna is supposed to be 3/4 the size of Pluto.
The projected orbit has a period of 10,500 years which means you wouldn't get many birthday presents based on Sedna's years. It's about as close to the sun now as it ever gets, around 8,000,000,000 miles, so not a great spot to look for warm beaches.
Since it was discovered near perihelion there may be thousands of rocks out there just like it, too far away to noticed yet. Another somewhat smaller rock now called Quaoar was discovered back in 2002.