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Article: To be, or not to be; Astronomy.(Yet another distant object orbiting the Sun has been discovered)(2003 UB313)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- August 6, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A chance to cut the number of planets in the solar system to eight
"MY VERY educated mother just served us nine pizzas." Many American school children are taught this mnemonic to help them remember the order of the planets of the solar system. Soon though, this may change because, on July 29th, a team of astronomers announced the discovery of a very distant celestial body larger than Pluto. The researchers claim that the new body--which they are informally calling Xena--should be classified as a planet.
The new body--temporarily named 2003 UB313--orbits the Sun once every 560 years. It is currently over 14 billion kilometres away, about three times ...