We now have a planet named Sedna
 

We now have a planet named Sedna
Discovered by a woman named Edna
Her collieges exclaimed
We think your insane
and no man in his right mind would wed ya!

(check the news - its true - we have 10 planets now!)

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

A link or a source?

Some people say pluto isn't a planet due to its size (smaller than our moon). So I say we now have 9 planets :D

edited: Here is the news I found

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media...es/ssc2004-05/

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...n_sc/ice_world

planetoid? is it politically correct to discriminate against planets based on their size?

compaired to Jupiter, earth is not a planet either, not by a long shot :^()

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

I saw the NY Times story on it this morning. Plenty of good links at Google News... I think that as we further our ability to see into the depths of space, we'll discover smaller and smaller "planets". I wonder whether or not if there will be a distinction made between a rock orbiting the sun and a "planet" in the near future. Heh.

I also wonder how many teachers were teaching the planets today to their elementary school kids today.

"Now kids, how many planets are there? Tommy?"

"Err... Ten!"

"No, that's wrong Tommy. Does anyone else know?"

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

what is the correct answer then?

9.75?!

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

I would say there are 1 and more planets, since the teacher is asking for numbers of planet in the universe not our solar system ;)

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

I'm not too surprised. I read about the possibility of a 10th planet in a magazine last year. Apparently there is a common track of comets and meteors that led to the theory.

Now we know.

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

The correct answer would be 9, or 8, depending on who you're asking.

A lot of people think that Pluto isn't a planet either ;).

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

" Named Sedna, after the Inuit goddess who created the sea creatures of the Arctic, the planetoid is 800 to 1,100 miles in diameter, or about three-quarters the size of Pluto, and probably half rock, half ice."

we are going to find out its like a metor or something that just seems to quicendently become an orbiting rock =P

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

I seem to remember reading once that our moon is so large that technically its not a moon, its a sister planet

which would mean we have 11 planets now!

Teacher: Billy? How many planets are in our solar system?
Billy: That depends
Teacher: on what?
Billy: on who wants to know? An astronomer, a physicist, an astronaut, or a lawyer?

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

Oh boy. :yikes:

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

Here we go again... didn't something like this pop up a few years back?

If you ask me, it's probably one of the larger rocks of the Oort cloud. But it sounds like a pretty place, if it's true that it's been undisturbed for the past 4.5 billion years.

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

they said the temp on Sedna is 4°K on the surface (4° above absolute zero!)

but with the windchill it can get down to -20°K :ahh:

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

wow, imagine if that were actually possible. I mean at 0 K (I thought there was no degree symbol for kelvin) there is theoretically no molecular movement at all so what would happen if an object would reach negative kelvin? Also even if there wer no molecular movement how would the object manage to exist? :ahh:

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

when the windchill is -20K the temp is not really below absolute zero

it only feels that way on exposed skin :ahh:

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

I know it isn't actually but IMAGINE!!!!!! if that WERE POSSIBLE!!!!! what would happen

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

well... it cant a happen - absolute zero is the point at which all atomic vibration stops - so once its stopped, it cant stop any further

so by definition it cant get any colder

(and by the way, you cant have windchill at 4K - I think all the gasses we know of would be a liquid at that temp, and most would be a solid, there there cant be any wind :^)

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

Well, this is a FIRST robotics forum so I think it's safe to say we're not talking to anymore lawyers...

4k is pretty cold. Sounds like Michigan weather to me!

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

Absolute zero is fun. Weeeeird things happen at absolute zero.

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

Heh, think how long exposed skin would last at 4 K. :)

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

I have a bit of trouble calling Pluto a planet. I've always defined a moon as something that orbits a planet. Pluto is odd because its moon, Charon, and itself orbit each other. Since Charon is smaller in size I consider Pluto a planet. Sedna is extremely small, and we aren't sure if it is orbiting something else or not. For all we know there's something out there that eats planets like Jupiter for breakfast.

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

oooooh I saw that on the original Star Trek - the planet killer

it looked amazingly like a giant Bugle snack!

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

Yeah, like all molecular movement in the entire universe stops...

Nothing can ever be absolute 0, because that means it's not getting bumped by radiation from nearby jiggling molecules, which means that they're not moving (cuz if they were moving, they'd be makin' radiation), which means that they're not getting bumped by nearby jiggling molecules, which means that they're not getting bumped by nearby jiggling molecules, which means that they're not getting bumped by nearby jiggling molecules, which means that they're not getting bumped by nearby jiggling molecules, which means that they're not getting bumped by nearby jiggling molecules, which means that they're not getting bumped by nearby jiggling molecules, which means that they're not getting bumped by nearby jiggling molecules, which means that they're not getting bumped by nearby jiggling molecules, and so on and so on. :D

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

the laws of physics dont agree with your concept - energy disperses and eventaully all matter will reach absolute zero and the universe will enter a state called 'heat death'

and since the universe is expanding at an increasing rate, that means it will never collaspe back in on itself

in otherwords, the universe as we know it had a beginning, and it will have an end -> zero K.

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

Energy disperses? Since when? Where does it go to? Ever heard of the Law of the Conservation of Energy?

Has that been determined? Or have they just determined that they haven't determined anything? And what would be causing the acceleration? What would be pushing us away from everything else? Anti-gravitons? No. There are two theories for The End Of The Universe. One is the Big Void, where everything gets really far apart from everything else forever and ever, or the Big Crunch, where everything crunches back together. Kind of like this:
You throw a ball up into the air. The act of throwing it up can be compared to the Big Bang. Now, there's very little evidence to show that the ball will continue accelerating up forever. What usually happens (since the last time I checked) is that the ball comes back down and crunches (Big Crunch) onto the ground.

The beginning of the universe didn't have a temperature, because there was nothing to measure. It just wasn't. And when it was, it was billions upon billions upon billions of degrees C, because of all the energy packed into that infinitessimally small point.

I apologize if I appear snide.

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

ok, now that I think of it, you are right - matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, so the level of enegy in the matter of the universe will eventully reach an equilibrium - where everything is at the same energy level or temperature

but after giving this some thought, I guess the universe cant level out to absolute zero - but it will probabally be close.

All the obeservations that have been made show the universe is expanding at a speed greater then its relative escape velocity - so it will continue to expand forever

and recently scientists were all in a flutter because the expansion has been measured as increasing - the galaxies are accelerating AWAY from each other faster and faster - which we cannot explain with observable physics - they only explaination they have been able to come up with it the phantom 'dark matter' which has anti-gravity properties.

The more you learn about quantum and astrophysics, the more it disturbs you - its as if the universe is only a simulation in the mind of God- its too bizzare to be real :^)

Re: We now have a planet named Sedna
 

The only reason that happens is because all planet/moon systems orbit around a center of gravity, not the planet itself (in fact, anything with mass acts this way). Both Pluto and Charon are close to each other in size (I think Charon is half the size. Proportionallly to its mother planet, it's the largest moon in the solar system). So the CoG of the system is about a third of the way out of Pluto towards Charon. That's what it orbits. It's the same with Earth and our moon (I believe we orbit around a CoG that's about at the surface of the Equator). And don't get me started about the sun and every rock going around it.