Move over, Pluto. (Space News).It's a fact of life, right? The solar system solar system, the sun and the surrounding planets, natural satellites, dwarf planets, asteroids, meteoroids, and comets that are bound by its gravity. The sun is by far the most massive part of the solar system, containing almost 99.9% of the system's total mass. contains nine planets. Don't be so sure. A growing number of scientists think it's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a to scratch Pluto from the lineup. "Scientifically it makes sense," says planetary plan·e·tar·y adj. 1. Of, relating to, or resembling the physical or orbital characteristics of a planet or the planets. 2. a. astronomer Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology California Institute of Technology, at Pasadena, Calif.; originally for men, became coeducational in 1970; founded 1891 as Throop Polytechnic Institute; called Throop College of Technology, 1913–20. in Pasadena, Calif. Brown's evidence? An icy rock-he and a colleague recently discovered. It orbits 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) from the Sun in Pluto's neighborhood--a region of ice and rocks beyond Neptune's orbit called the Kuiper Belt Kuiper belt: see comet; Kuiper, Gerard Peter. Kuiper belt or Edgeworth-Kuiper belt Disk-shaped belt of billions of small icy bodies orbiting the Sun beyond the orbit of Neptune, mostly at distances 30–50 times Earth's distance . The discoverers have named the icy chunk Quaoar (KWAH-o-ar) after a Native American deity. At about 1,287 km (800 mi) in diameter, Quaoar is roughly half Pluto's size. But it's the largest object found orbiting the Sun since the first sighting of Pluto 72 years ago. "When Pluto was discovered, nobody knew this region existed," says Brown. "There was nothing else to call Pluto, so everybody called it a planet." Today, bodies in this region are called Kuiper Belt objects Noun 1. Kuiper belt object - any of many minor planets in the Kuiper belt outside the orbit of Neptune at the edge of the solar system KBO minor planet, planetoid - any of numerous small celestial bodies that move around the sun , and scientists have tracked more than 600 so far. Planets are usually defined as large bodies orbiting a star. "Some argue Pluto is much larger than any Kuiper Belt object," Brown says. "It's only a little bit bigger than Quaoar, and I'm fairly convinced we may find something as large as Pluto--if not larger." Only 5 to 10 percent of the Kuiper Belt has been studied. Clearly, the debate on Pluto is just beginning. RELATED ARTICLE: New Neighbor to Pluto Discovered. Astronomers Famous astronomers and astrophysicists include: Directory: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A
Quaoar is about 4 billion miles from the Sun, 1 billion miles farther than Pluto. Like Pluto, Quaoar lies in the Kuiper Belt, a debris field of ice and rocks beyond the orbit of Neptune. DIAMETER COMPARISON Quaoar: 1,287 kilometers (800 miles) in diameter Pluto: 2,253 km (1,400 mi) Earth's moon: 3,380 km (2,100 mi) Earth: 12,875 km (8,000 mi) |
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