800-Mile-Wide "Object" Found in Solar System
Posted on Tuesday 8 October 2002
Astronomers announced today the discovery of the largest object in the
solar system since Pluto was named the ninth planet in 1930. The object
is half the size of Pluto, composed primarily of rock and ice, and
circles the sun once every 288 years.
Named Quaoar (pronounced
KWAH-o-ar), the object resides in the Kuiper belt, a region of the sky
beyond the orbit of Pluto and about 4 billion miles (6.5 billion
kilometers) from Earth. The Kuiper belt is chock full of remnants from
the planet-formation era of the solar system. [link]
