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I can remember when I was at school and this theory first appeared as Pluto was affected by some other gravitational force...

Scientists in the United States were expected to announce today that they had found a new "planet" in our solar system, after spotting a 10th heavenly body orbiting the sun.
After sightings by the Hubble telescope and the Spitzer space telescope, Nasa has announced that it would present the "discovery of the most distant object ever detected orbiting the sun".
The find was made by Dr Michael Brown, associate professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, who is working on a Nasa-funded project, the organisation said.
The object has been named Sedna, after the Inuit goddess of the ocean.
The body is believed to be about 1,250 miles across, but may even be larger than the furthest known planet, Pluto, which was discovered in 1930 and has a diameter of 1,406 miles.
Scientists believe Sedna is 6.2bn miles from Earth, in a region of space known as the Kuiper Belt, which contains hundreds of other known bodies.
Whether the new discovery can actually be called a planet is likely to be debated by astrophysicists for months or even years to come. Many bodies of rock and ice exist in the region and there is still some argument over whether Pluto is a real planet.

Meh... Too many big words... However, I did learn about this theory in 6th grade...

Good news, Ozzy...!
You know my feelings about "Heavenly Bodies".... ...!
LOL....!

Interesting tho', with all the latest technology for peering deep into the depths of outer space, you would think that they would have spotted it long before now...
Apparently it's twice* as far away as Pluto, so I wont be catching a number 9 'bus there... ...!
LOL...!

Cheers all...!

Paul.

P.S. ...and it's only a small lump of rock...so no Aliens... ...!
LOL...!

extra...
*Three times...

Maybe it's Elvis insteads of a rock...

Maybe it's a spot on the camera lens like the "ghost" in my castle photo. LOL

As they're using Hubble I think I'll go along with Hagars theory

I always thought the theory went that there had to be another planet out there instead of Pluto. I remember being told, or reading somewhere that the forces on planet no. 8 (Uranus or Neptune I forget which it is) are too great to be attributed to Pluto. Therefore there must be another larger planet out there.

Here is the latest bit of info'....>>>

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/sol ... _body.html

Cheers all...!

Paul.

What I can't understand is why nobody spotted this object before. Some astronomer chappie who seemed to know what he was talking about was explaining on the radio today that it couldn't possibly be a planet as it's too small. There are 1,000s of similar objects in the area that astronomers have known about for years. What's so special about this one? If there's a much larger object big enough to affect the orbit of another planet as Woody suggests why can't they see that?

In my experience, scientists & academics are easily fooled. They look for complex explanations for anything & overlook the obvious. People also tend to see what they expect or want to see. Scientists are not somehow immune to this any more than other human beings.

hubbles unreliable and theres so much rock nd crap out there theyll be finding new ones forever.

Couldn't care less

If they cant even find planets that are always going around us, how are they going to find that next "killer asteroid" that will appear out of nowhere?

how are they going to find that next "killer asteroid" that will appear out of nowhere?

I don't worry myself about such things. If they do see one coming there's nothing they can do about it. I would rather not know & go out in blissful ignorance if it's all the same to you.

If they cant even find planets that are always going around us, how are they going to find that next "killer asteroid" that will appear out of nowhere?

Well, its quite simple, the killer asteroid will be the large rock that is getting bigger while all the others remain the same size.

the reason they couldnt see it, was because it was a long time ago that it was this bright as they explained. the last time it was this visable, earth was just coming out of the ice age. Its orbit is over 10,000 years, usually hidden by said ice belt or whatever it was that its hidden in. What i wanna know is, why cant they get a decent close up shot of it now. With hubble seeing the outer reaches of the universe, why is a planet in our solar system so difficult to get a good shot of