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Sedna
by Jim Gibson 16 Mar '04

16 Mar '04

Joe I really enjoyed your article "NASA finds odd little object in distant space " JG Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam

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KBO's
by Chuck Hards 15 Mar '04

15 Mar '04

I'll get excited when a big object is discovered out there that's cylindrical, and headed sunward! C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] The rest of the story
by Michael Carnes 15 Mar '04

15 Mar '04

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The rest of the story
by Jim Gibson 15 Mar '04

15 Mar '04

We all know that the Spirit rover has had some problems, but check out this site for what really happened: http://images.spaceref.com/news/2004/rover.armspin.mov Jim Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam

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More on the new object
by Patrick Wiggins 15 Mar '04

15 Mar '04

http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~chad/sedna Patrick

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10th "planet"?
by Patrick Wiggins 14 Mar '04

14 Mar '04

Get ready for another round of "is Pluto a planet?" http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8968352%5E290…

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More on new "planet"
by Patrick Wiggins 14 Mar '04

14 Mar '04

Astronomers discover 'new planet' By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor * Astronomers have discovered a new world circling the Sun farther away than other planets. * Found in an outer Solar System survey by the recently launched Spitzer Space Telescope, it has been called Sedna after the Inuit goddess of the ocean. Observations show it is about 2,000 km across, and it may even be larger than Pluto which is 2,250 km across. The Hubble Space Telescope has also seen it. Details will be announced by the US space agency Nasa on Monday. * World of rock and ice * Sedna is the largest object found circling the Sun since the discovery of Pluto in 1930. Its size is uncertain. One astronomer told BBC News Online that it may even be larger than Pluto itself. It was found during the course of a survey led by Dr Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology. Scientists are only midway through this three-year project. KUIPER BELT OBJECTS Icy planetary bodies that orbit beyond Neptune in the distant region of the Solar System More than 400 such objects are currently known They are believed to be remnants of the formation of the Solar System and among the most primitive objects available for study Preliminary calculations suggest that it is 10bn kilometres from Earth in a region of space known as the Kuiper Belt (KB). The KB contains hundreds of known objects and astronomers believe there are many more awaiting discovery. Most are small worlds of rock and ice but some, like Sedna, could be as large as or larger than Pluto. The importance of Sedna is that it is the first such world discovered in its normal orbit. Other similar though smaller worlds, like Quaoar and Varuna, originated in the KB but have since been perturbed into different orbits. * Planet debate * Following the objects discovery astronomers at the Tenagra Observatory in Arizona were asked to provide positional information so that an orbit could be determined for Sedna. The new discovery will reignite the debate about what is a planet. One group of astronomers believe that Pluto is not a true planet but merely one of the largest of a vast number of minor objects in the outer Solar System. The alternative standpoint is that Pluto is a planet and those who believe that will have to classify Sedna as the tenth planet. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/3511678.stm Published: 2004/03/15 01:12:07 GMT © BBC MMIV

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New planet?
by Patrick Wiggins 14 Mar '04

14 Mar '04

This just showed up on the Minor Planet Mailing List. considering the news conference NASA has called for tomorrow, this could be interesting... Patrick Here's a snippet from the HST Daily Report: Loads for SA075O02_F1 were signed off @ 072/0800z. SA075O02 supercedes SA075O01, and includes the additional "Director's Discretionary Target" for proposal # 10041 "Characterization of a Planetary-sized Body in the Inner Oort Cloud".

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Hubble on 60 Minutes Tonight
by Mark 14 Mar '04

14 Mar '04

Just noticed that the Hubble Space Telescope is one of the subjects on tonights edition of Sixty minutes!!! Could be interesting...... Enjoy!,, Mark

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Photo Caption Contest winners
by Chuck Hards 12 Mar '04

12 Mar '04

First let me thank all the participants; some of the entries had me in stitches. There is one winner, and two runners-up. All three win a prize. And now, a drum roll, please.... The Grand Prize, Harlow Shapley's autograph on an index card, is awarded to Bob Grant for his entry: "Late Breaking News! (UPI Wire Service) Somewhere in France, March 1916. Outrage against noise pollution leads to arguments, and the banning of clothes pins and playing cards at inaugural Messier Marathon. Discord seen as an ill omen, foretelling of continued factiousness for future generations of amateur stargazers." *** First Runner-Up, winning a keychain laser pointer (less batteries) is awarded to Michael Carnes, for his entry: "I'd rather star-hop, so I took off the training wheels." *** Second Runner-Up, also winning a keychain laser pointer (less batteries) is awarded to Brent Watson, for his entry: "Wait 'till you see the version for Alvan Clark's Yerkes refractor." *** The laser pointers take standard LR-44 button batteries. The same ones used in your reticle illuminators. I'd like to commend Brent also for sheer quantity of entries, he really outdid himself and threw himself into the spirit of the competition. I'll post the winning captions on the Gallery page in coming days. Will the winners please send me their mailing addresses off-list. I will mail out prizes within a few days of receipt of your address. This way no-one has to wait until we are all at the same place at the same time. Thanks again to all who submitted entries, I'll post another photo in the not-to-distant future, as soon as I can scrape up more prizes worthy of such a grand affair. C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what youre looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com

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