Newest Member of our Solar System

This artist's concept shows the planet catalogued as 2003UB313 at the lonely outer fringes of our solar system. Our Sun can be seen in the distance. The new planet, which is yet to be formally named, is at least as big as Pluto and about three times farther away from the Sun than Pluto. It is very cold and dark. The planet was discovered by the Samuel Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory near San Diego, Calif., on Jan. 8, 2005.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech



‘Xena' the 10th Planet Has a Moon



A team of astronomers led by Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology were observing the new planet, 'Xena', and spotted a faint moving body right next to it. Since it was moving, it was determined that it is a moon.
The new moon is being called 'Gabrielle’, for the TV sidekick on the show "Xena: Warrior Princess", and its discovery can help scientists determine the new planet's mass.
'Gabrielle’ is about 155 miles wide and 60 times fainter than Xena. Experts believe that the moon was formed when Kuiper Belt objects collided with one another.
source:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/