Maybe, but probably not. The latest has it most of the sky has now been searched. Right now, it is predicted that the planet hunters will find perhaps one or two more pluto sized objects if they are extremely lucky. Stay tuned! Later!
J P
Here is the "REAL" tenth planet of Solar System
WTF !!!!!-
Spaceman Spiff
- Posts: 420
- Joined: 21.02.2002
- With us: 22 years 8 months
- Location: Darmstadt, Germany.
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An update from wikpedia:
The brightness of a solar system object depends both on its size and the amount of light it reflects (its albedo). If the distance to an object and its albedo are both known, its radius can easily be determined from its apparent magnitude, with a higher albedo implying a smaller radius. Currently, the albedo of 2003 UB313 is unknown, and so its true size cannot yet be determined. However, astronomers have calculated that even if it reflected all the light it receives (corresponding to a maximum albedo of 1.0), it would still have to be about as large as Pluto (2390 km). In fact, its albedo is probably less than 1.0, and so the new object is likely to be somewhat larger than Pluto.
Spitzer space telescope observations should provide an upper bound on the size of 2003 UB313. A first round of observations failed to detect the new object, a result which was initially reported as indicating an upper size limit of about 3500 km, but was later found to be due to a technical glitch, so estimates of an upper bound of around 5000 km have not been ruled out. The observations were rescheduled for August 25 and August 26, 2005 soon after the failure was recognized.
To better determine 2003 UB313's radius, the discovery team have been awarded observing time on the Hubble Space Telescope. At a distance of 97 AU, an object with a radius of about 3000 km would have an angular size of about 40 milliarcseconds, which is directly measurable with HST: although resolving such small objects is right at the limit of Hubble's capabilities, sophisticated image processing techniques such as deconvolution can be used to measure such angular sizes fairly accurately. The team previously applied this technique to 50000 Quaoar, using the Advanced Camera for Surveys to directly measure its radius.
The 5000km value mentioned here would make 2003 UB313 larger than Mercury. Later!
J P
The brightness of a solar system object depends both on its size and the amount of light it reflects (its albedo). If the distance to an object and its albedo are both known, its radius can easily be determined from its apparent magnitude, with a higher albedo implying a smaller radius. Currently, the albedo of 2003 UB313 is unknown, and so its true size cannot yet be determined. However, astronomers have calculated that even if it reflected all the light it receives (corresponding to a maximum albedo of 1.0), it would still have to be about as large as Pluto (2390 km). In fact, its albedo is probably less than 1.0, and so the new object is likely to be somewhat larger than Pluto.
Spitzer space telescope observations should provide an upper bound on the size of 2003 UB313. A first round of observations failed to detect the new object, a result which was initially reported as indicating an upper size limit of about 3500 km, but was later found to be due to a technical glitch, so estimates of an upper bound of around 5000 km have not been ruled out. The observations were rescheduled for August 25 and August 26, 2005 soon after the failure was recognized.
To better determine 2003 UB313's radius, the discovery team have been awarded observing time on the Hubble Space Telescope. At a distance of 97 AU, an object with a radius of about 3000 km would have an angular size of about 40 milliarcseconds, which is directly measurable with HST: although resolving such small objects is right at the limit of Hubble's capabilities, sophisticated image processing techniques such as deconvolution can be used to measure such angular sizes fairly accurately. The team previously applied this technique to 50000 Quaoar, using the Advanced Camera for Surveys to directly measure its radius.
The 5000km value mentioned here would make 2003 UB313 larger than Mercury. Later!
J P
I've created a texture sort of based on the Sedna texture for 2003 UB313. Unlike the Sedna texture, however, the polar regions are brighter. Also, I took away the color to approximate the gray color that 2003 UB313 reportedly is. It is now available for download.
Here's a preview of my version of 2003 UB313:
Later!
J P
Here's a preview of my version of 2003 UB313:
Later!
J P