A planet with a diameter of 300 km returns to the discussion the question of whether Pluto is also a planet
Astronomers claim to have found this week a mini-Pluto that is not a planet but not a moon either. It is an object plutino that orbits the sun at about the same distance as Pluto, but is too small to be called a planet.
The object: 2000 EB173 was discovered in March after examining data collected by the 300-meter telescope at the Sida CIDA Observatory in Venezuela. The space rock is estimated to be about a quarter the size of Pluto and it joins a club of over XNUMX other trans-Neptunian objects - small objects that orbit the Sun beyond Neptune's orbit.
"This is the largest and brightest object we have seen so far," says Charles Baltay, a physicist at Yale University who headed the study. Balti and his collaborators will publish their findings in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. "We believe this object has been orbiting the Sun since the formation of the Solar System. Therefore, it is a primordial object, and it is bright enough that we can study it in detail."
The bone appears in a dark red color, and the researchers suggest examining whether it is covered with ancient organic materials. The diameter of the object is estimated to be between 300 and 700 km, says Gareth Williams, associate director of the Minor Planet Center of the World Astronomical Union (MPC). All discoveries of objects of this type are transferred to the MPC center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. direct. He said about the new object, but astronomers estimate that its size is based on its brightness.
The object orbits the sun once every 240 years. An observer who has a 12-16 inch telescope can locate it, but it is invisible through binoculars and certainly to the naked eye.
There are two main regions where asteroids are found in the solar system. The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is home to between 40 and 50 objects, and the much smaller belt is the Kuiper belt, which extends beyond the orbit of Neptune. The discovery of EB173 brings back the debate as to whether Pluto, discovered after long searches by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, deserves to be called a planet. says
Williams. "If it was discovered today, it would be identified as a small planet of the asteroid type" he says - that is, not a planet.
