Buffy, Xena, Gabrielle (In Space)

http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/13486989.htm

" The familiar solar system that you learned about in school ? nine
well-behaved planets, from Mercury to Pluto, circling sedately in tidy
paths around the sun ? isn't what it used to be.

Astronomers recently have discovered a flock of at least eight other
planet-like objects in sometimes wildly eccentric orbits. Four new "ice
dwarfs," plus two more probable moons around Pluto, were announced in the
last six months.

The latest mini-world, temporarily nicknamed "Buffy" and more than 5
billion miles from the sun, was revealed Dec. 13. The object, about half
the size of Pluto, was spotted roaming through the so-called Kuiper Belt,
a vast junkyard of icy, rocky bodies stretching for billions of miles
beyond the orbit of Neptune...

So far, nine such mini-worlds, including Pluto (diameter 1,430 miles), are
known to dwell in the frigid Kuiper Belt.

They are "a completely different type of object that predominates in the
outer solar system beyond Neptune," Pogge said.

The largest and most distant of the ice dwarfs is nicknamed Xena after the
television warrior princess. Discovered in 2003, it's 1,600 miles across
and 20 percent bigger than Pluto is. Xena has a moon of its own, named
Gabrielle after the TV Xena's sidekick.

If Xena and Pluto are counted, our solar system has 10 planets; if they're
not, it has eight. But if all the known objects larger than 625 miles
across are included, there would be 17 planets with more expected soon.

A small Kuiper Belt mini-worlds is nicknamed Santa and has a moonlet named
Rudolph. Until the International Astronomical Union assigns official
names, the others are known as Easter Bunny, Orcus, Quaoar, Ixion and now
Buffy. The most distant such object is called Sedna; its elliptical orbit
carries it more than 9 billion miles beyond the sun."
--
"Hear the sound of the falling rain
Coming down like an Armageddon flame (Hey!)
The shame
The ones who died without a name"
.

Relevant Pages

  • New Horizons Update - September 2005
    ... spaceship to Pluto. ... we were taught that our solar system ... contains four rocky planets on the inside, ... Neptune on a retrograde orbit that is the hallmark of gravitational ...
    (sci.space.news)
  • Re: Soon 12 planets in the solar system !
    ... And I did talk about other other things than the current 9 planets. ... about the solar system and don´t mention Pluto. ... Who says you shall not mention Pluto? ... Reason is the minimum requirement in science. ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: about newtons gravitation theory
    ... planets .The chance to stabilise the situation failed for the same ... We don't know how many bodies are orbiting the Sun, ... When Kuiper Belt Objects other than Pluto started to be discovered, ... Pluto, was discovered, did we really want to view the Solar System as ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Why Xena Must Not Become a Planet!
    ... either nicely makes the point that in our Solar System, ... KBO or a Scattered Disk Object) raise questions about the "Nine Major Planets" ... how to classify Pluto, the fact that it is a belt object rather than a dominant ... this "planetary discriminant" should be used, ...
    (sci.astro)
  • Re: "Pluto Now Called a Plutoid"
    ... orbit if there are no orbits intersecting it that are greater in mass than Ceres." ... If you include moons in consideration the first definition eliminates Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Eris. ... In the second definition Pluto and Eris are sometimes planets and sometimes non-planets depending on how the other large Kuiper belt objects are arranged on any given day. ... The fundamental point here, which you're skipping over, is the IAU has never said what they mean. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
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