New Frozen World Found Beyond Pluto

theBrownfury writes "BBC, Sydney Herald, and the Indian Express are reporting a new object, which is one-tenth the diameter of the Earth, and lies well beyond Pluto in an area of the Solar System known as the Kuiper Belt. The new world, which has been dubbed Quaoar, is about 1,280 kilometres (800 miles) across. Quaoar orbits the sun ever 288 years and is 1250 Km wide, about the size of all the asteroids combined. This discovery is being hailed as the most important solar system discovery in the past 72 years."

Ah crap... you've found my home planet.

[Ted_Green]

Now you all must die!

Most Important Solar System Discovery

[von Prufer]

"This discovery is being hailed as the most important solar system discovery in the past 72 years."

Not by me.

Aw shucks

[entrippy]

They called it "Quaoar"? You can't even pronounce it! Here I was hoping they'd have the decencey to name the planet out past Pluto as it should be named.

Goofy.

not official name

[Em Emalb]

"However, Quaoar is not an official name - at least not yet. In a few months, the International Astronomical Union, astronomy's governing body, will vote on it."

I vote for CowboyNeal.

Blarney

[Shamanin]

"Quaoar orbits the sun ever 288 years"

Do I perceive a-bit of the ol' Irish accent in ye? Or are ye a pirate be?

Vanna White, help!

[Tablizer]

Quaoar

Otherwise known as the Vowel Planet

MVEMJSUNP

[Squarewav]

My Very Energetic Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas Q???
ahh damn now what are we supposed to use to remember the planet order

Can anyone think of a use for a new planet?

[ites]

Dunno, but I've racked my brains for the last five minutes
and I can't think of a single thing we could do with Quaoar (OSLT).
Nope. Zilch. Not a single damn use for another planet.
We still haven't figured out what we're going to do with the current lot.
Perhaps I'm an ignorant barbarian, but how is finding one more planet 'important'?
I mean... surely 'importance' has to have something to do with human aspirations?

Re:Will it stay named?

[Anonymous Coward]

yes, but pluto managed to pull its stock up over $1, so it's still listed.

Hah! Got it!

[ites]

It's the SCRABBLE PLANET!
Someone just wants to sneak this word into the dictionary so that he can beat his aged grandmother at Scrabble.
This is the only possible reason for the name.

Send it to Bosnia!

[wiredog]

Support the Vowels For Bosnia [theonion.com] campaign!

tenth planet

[Triv]

For the sake of geekdom everywhere -- If there's a tenth planet out there, it's gotta be called Persephone (I don't think Rupert would go over too well).

(We miss you, Douglas)

Triv

Re:MVEMJSUNP

[Frodo2002]

My Very Energetic MOther Just Served Us Nine Pizzas Quickly/Quietly/Quantumly/Quaintly/....

Um, well it doen't solve the problem of 10 planets, but on the other hand we could leave it as "Nine". Just imagine our grandchildren will tell their children that the "Nine" is an artifact of history when people thought there were only nine planets in the Solar System...

just doesn't sound the same

[rattler14]

my
very
eager
mother
just
served
us
nine
p izzas
um... quickly?

ah well, i'm sure someone else can come up with something more creative

K-Pax

[rppp01]

Prot was right! I knew it!

Now I know he was really an alien!

Re:Aw shucks

[JohnA]

Don't you mean "Disney(R) Presents Goofy"?

Re:Proposed name for planet...

[dildatron]

Another vote for Qwerty. So easy to type, no wonder it's #1!

Re:Vanna White, help!

[growlydog]

Now... If we started calling it the Vowel Planet, and it somehow went out of its natural orbit, would that be called a "Vowel Movement"?

Re:Vanna White, help!

[warpup]

The perfect puzzle for Wheel of Fortune. Sure the r will be guessed pretty quick, but who ever guesses Q? Even then, once all the vowels have been bought, chances are the person still wont be able to pronounce it...

Re:Vanna White, help!

[Tablizer]

Now... If we started calling it the Vowel Planet, and it somehow went out of its natural orbit, would that be called a "Vowel Movement"?

He he. And I thought we exhausted all the space doodee jokes when the new moon of Uranus was posted a few weeks ago. Boy was I wrong.

"Vowel Movement Linked to Uranus"

[Anonymous Coward]

Film at 11.

Astonishing discovery!

[bluethundr]

Even more astonishing than the planet itself is the fact that the only thing on it is a little French boy with a rose... [8m.com]

Re:Quaoar is California Spelling of American India

[Tablizer]

Quaoar is California Spelling of [an] American Indian [God]

The God of Vowels, no doubt.

(I know I know, I cannot kick this vowel thing.)

Re:tenth planet

[Rupert]

Ahem. I may not be a roman god,or one of whatever Quaoar is, but I don't see any fundamental objection to naming a planet after me.

-1 Stupid

[MyHair]

Otherwise known as the Vowel Planet

No, that's Uranus.

Oh wait, I'm sorry, Uranus is the Bowel Planet.

Why the controversy over "planet"?

[Kyont]

Is there anyone in the astronomical community who can explain the apparent desire to "de-list" Pluto as a planet? It's not like a diving .com stock that NASDAQ can just yank. It seems to fit the accepted definition of "planet" (a non-luminous hunk of something that is larger than an asteroid and orbits the sun only somewhat eccentrically**) even if we later discover it is not even the largest object in the Kuiper Belt. If the line between "big asteroid" and "planet" is arbitrary, why the desire to shift the cutoff and exclude Pluto? It'll have no effect on the planet, just on textbooks and things. Will we have to start referring to it as "The Asteroid Formerly Known As Pluto"?

**Obligatory Dom DeLuise joke here.

10th planet discovered - again.

[raehl]

A team of astronomers utilizing the latest technology to scan the outerreaches of the solar system announced today that they had discoverred the solar system's 10th planet.

"We're really pleased to have discoverred the solar system's 10th planet. Only though diligent research methods, including pointing telescopes at lots of different areas of the sky, were we able to make this discovery," said team leader George Randi.

When asked what was most satisfying about the discovery, Randi said "Definitely making the '10th Planet of the Week' website. Almost all of our buddies have discoverred at least one 10th planet, so we were feeling a little left out."

Astronomy buffs are also encouraged to rate the discovery at "scientificornot.com" and "wasteofmoneyornot.com". Said team member Alfred Inglebrot, "Our discovery of the 254,357th asteroid got all ones and a two. We're hoping that finding the new 10th planet will appropriately get us a few tens. At least until someone else discovers the new 10th planet next week."

The discovery was not without controversy, however. A competing russian research team claims they found this week's 10th planet first at 3:04 AM on Sunday, preceding Randi's team's discovery at 9:27 AM bt over 6 hours. "We were robbed," said Alexander Dumivsk. "The Russians are always overlooked in favor of American glory."

The Americans downplayed any controversy. "They can try again next week. Even if we were a little later, our 10th planet is obviously the biggest, and that's certainly more important that precise timing."

Re:Aw shucks

[Dirtside]

They called it "Quaoar"? You can't even pronounce it! Here I was hoping they'd have the decencey to name the planet out past Pluto as it should be named.

Goofy.

What, you don't think the name "Quaoar" is goofy enough already? :)

I think you'll find

[Anonymous Coward]

That its "Rupert"

Re:Dimensions

[Anonymous Coward]

Note that he used a capital K (the computer science kilo = 1024).

1250 Km = 1250*1.024 km = 1280 km. Everything works out.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:MVEMJSUNP

[stand]

but on the other hand we could leave it as "Nine"

How about My Very Energetic Mother Just Served Us Numerous Pizzas Quickly. Then we no longer have the scalability problem.

Farengi bar jokes, part I

[Tablizer]

New DS9 tongue twister:

Quark, Queue me up a Quick Quart of Quaoar

The Greeks knew a long time ago.

[Anonymous Coward]

Mercury: Messenger God.
Venus: Hottie God
Mars: War God
Jupiter: King God
Saturn: Fertility God
Uranus: God of the Sky
Neptune: God of the Sea
Pluto: God of the Dead
Quaoar: God of the Queer

Of course, this information was suppressed by the Romans when they assimilated the Greek gods. The Romans just weren't into 'doing it greek'. Why they left that homo statue David standing is a mystery to me.

Re:Is it really?

[Amazing Quantum Man]

It's still a cool discovery

Actually, given the distance from the Sun, I'd say it's a very COLD discovery!

Re:Vanna White, help!

[Tablizer]

If they find it has a moon, my toddler has found a name for it:

Eieio

Sawyer called it

[thatguywhoiam]

[ Loosely paraphrased from Calculating God...]

Alien: It's only natural that humans would use a base-10 number system. You have 10 of everything. 10 fingers, 10 toes, 10 planets in your solar system...

Human: Uh, that's nine planets.

Alien: Keep looking.

Don't you know...

[BoomerSooner]

You're going to bring the wrath of Steve Jobs down on you. It's planet "ten" not "X". Trademark pending, patent pending, soul pending.

Slashdot Poll

[Anonymous Coward]

What is your favorite pronunciation of Quaoar?
1) kyoo-ohr
2) kway-ohr
3) kwow-ahr
5) kwak-kwak
6) k-pax
7) kow-boi-neel

Re:Aw shucks

[Citizen of Earth]

They should have called it "Planet X". (If X = 10 isn't trademarked by Apple.)

Hey!!

[Anonymous Coward]

That's no planet, that's a space station!

Re:Aw shucks

[susano_otter]

Then, of course, there's the painful deviation from the traditional planet naming convention to consider: Minerva, Ulysses, and Orpheus are all better choices than "Q-mumble-mumble".

I swear, it looks like the sort of name that was made specially for Ash to mispronounce, thereby summoning unspeakable evil to an S-Mart near you.

Obligatory Simpsons Refernce

[LittleGuy]

Suggestion: Planet Kwyjibo [snpp.com].

Re:Can anyone think of a use for a new planet?

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe the Republicans will want to drill for oil there, too.

Re:Is it really? - no, it's Vorlon in origin...

[jo_ham]

It's obvious that this is a Vorlon Planet Killer come to destroy the Earth - Bush convinced them that Al Queda had links to the Shadows.

Top 5 speculations where 'Quaoar' came from...

[Galaphine]

5. An inept reporter who misspelled 'Quasar'...
4. A new interplanetary CDMA relay station sponsored by Qualcomm...
3. Some drunken Brooklynite...
2. A homophobic astronomer with a southern drawl...
1. Somebody tried to use a non-Roman god but couldn't remember the name of that winged Aztec creature...

Re:How old are you then?

[Anonymous Coward]

So, you must be older than 248 Earth-years then (that's the time Pluto takes to revolve around the sun).

Or wait... you a one-year old kid?

Re:Ah crap... you've found my home planet.

[huge]

Sorry, All your (Quaoar) base are belong to us.

Re:Aw shucks

[CableModemSniper]

Cry havoc and let slip the ducks of war?

Re:Aw shucks

[CableModemSniper]

It's trademarked by the Roman Empire. Apple is licensing the letter "X" as the number 10 on a long term basis.

Re:Dimensions

[CableModemSniper]

::takes out calculator:: That is absoluetly terrifyi ng.

Re:The bigger issue

[Ozymandias_KoK]

We'll have none of that! You leave the facts out of this!

So how long until Jack Brennan moves it?

[rthille]

And puts another Stonehenge in my backyard?

Re:MVEMJSUNP

[Anonymous Coward]

For our german readers:
Mein Vater erklärt mir jeden Sonntag unsere neun Planeten, Quatsch!

Re:classic 1) 2) ??? 3) profit!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

1)Retire Proft Joke
2)????
3)PROFIT!

Re:Aw shucks

[apg]

This is what happens when scientists get a load of crappy letters in Scrabble.

"Honey, I'm telling you... 'Quaoar' is so a word. It's the name of the planet we discovered yesterday. Yeah, that's it..."

Re:What makes a planet?

[solarrhino]

If you think about landing on it: planet.

If you worry about it landing on you: asteroid.

Come on, Moon 2, Moon 2!!!

[watanabe]

I want this to be moved into orbit around earth, so that we can have two moons, like "Hook." Woo! That would be great. Who wants to fund the expedition? I'm sure we can profit from the new moon somehow. Like, countries could pay to keep it in or out of their orbit... How great would this be? Like "Grandpa, were you there when they added the second moon?" "Yes Deirdre, I was. In fact, I suggested it..."

Moon2.com. If only it were 1999, this would already be funded!!

Re:MVEMJSUNP

[susano_otter]

Clearly, we should just call the thing "Ten of Nine", and leave it at that. After all, it's clear that Saturn is the sexiest planet.

Re:Aw shucks

[Anonymous Coward]

"Mr. Mouse, in this state, insanity is not just grounds for divorce."
"Your honor, I didn't say that my wife was insane, I said that she was fucking goofy! "

(The joke works better when you can tell it with the Mickey Mouse voice. And by damn, that's the definition of fair use, so Michael Eisner can kiss my ass!)

Re:Most Important Solar System Discovery

[esobofh]

it's not even a rock.. it's a damn dirty chunk of ice.. now.. if that was in my drink i might have something to say about it..

Re:Aw shucks

[Drunken Coward]

Qwa O Wahr?
Sounds like my cat when I stuck it in the microwave.

Correction to the article

[Kaz Riprock]

The original poster wrote:

Quaoar orbits the sun ever 288 years

Actually, Quaoar fully orbits the sun once every year. 288 Earth years = 1 Quaoar year. Don't be so planetocentric. :)

sort of a setback

[sacrilicious]

Hmm, ten planets. This renders useless all those messages we've sent for aliens to find... the ones where a sun is shown with nine planets orbiting it, and a humanoid figure shown near the third one.

Zok: Hey, this looks like the place from the message, check it out: humanoids, single sun...

Glork: Oh wait though, there are ten planets. Let's keep looking.

Klork: Drat! I was so looking forward to bestowing the technological gift of perfectly realistic virtual porn on yet another race.

Great!

[lateralus_1024]

Can we send that Nsync kid up there tomorrow?