Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Tenth Planet
What ever happened to Sedna? 2003 UB313, also called Xena, seems to have taken it's place as the vaunted '10th Planet.' Xena also has a mysteriously shiney surface, which astronomers are at a bit of a loss to explain. It seems that the planet has some kind of consistent precipitation to refresh its smooth surface, but no source is apparent. The planet is, unfortunately, so far away that I suspect an exploratory mission is even more distant than my making a grad school decision. Oh well, mysteries are fun!
