Pluto, UB313, and VB12 (Sedna)

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Pluto, UB313, and VB12 (Sedna)
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A little bit about Pluto

• Part of the Kuiper Belt (region of frozen objects
  beyond Neptune)
• Considered ice dwarf
• Orbit is eccentric compared to other planets

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A little bit about UB313

• Discovered in 2003
• Roughly about 2x the size of Pluto
• 97 AUs from sun
• Surfaced with
• methane ice like
• Pluto

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A little bit about Sedna (VB12)

• Extremely elliptical orbit
• ¾ size of Pluto
• NOT a Kuiper Belt Object

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Definition of a planet?

• There is no REAL definition of what a planet is
• Purely historical. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
  Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are
  planets. Nothing else in the solar system is a
  planet.
• Historical plus. Mercury through Pluto are
  planets, as is any newly discovered object larger
  than Pluto.
• Gravitational rounding. Any object which is round
  due to its own gravitational pull and which
  directly orbits the sun is called a planet.
• Population classification. Just like the solar
  system very naturally divides itself between
  round objects and non-round objects, it also very
  naturally divides itself between solitary
  individuals and members of large populations.

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Bibliography

• http//www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050729_new_p
  lanet.html
• http//www.gps.caltech.edu/mbrown/sedna/planets
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto_(planet)