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2003 VB12 - "Sedna"

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posted on Apr, 3 2012 @ 10:55 PM
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I recently found an article that referred to planet I have never heard of. Sedna, or 2003 VB12. I did some looking on it, and found a few things.

Discovery of a candidate inner Oort cloud planetoid

Wiki(of course)

I find it really interesting, the implications of its orbit. Im sure that uncovering this planets story could tell us alot about the rest of the solar system and/or Oort cloud.

Feel free to add any info you may also have on the subject.

ETA: Im not looking to fear monger, just looking for more info, or maybe even a laymans overview


edit on 3-4-2012 by Chickensalad because: spelling



posted on Apr, 3 2012 @ 10:56 PM
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The Minor Planet Center currently places Sedna in the scattered disc, a group of objects sent into highly elongated orbits by the gravitational influence of Neptune. However, this classification has been contested, as Sedna never comes close enough to Neptune to have been scattered by it, leading some astronomers to conclude that it is in fact the first known member of the inner Oort cloud. Others speculate that it might have been tugged into its current orbit by a passing star, perhaps one within the Sun's birth cluster, or even that it was captured from another star system.



posted on Apr, 3 2012 @ 11:49 PM
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Originally posted by Chickensalad
I recently found an article that referred to planet I have never heard of. Sedna, or 2003 VB12. I did some looking on it, and found a few things.

Disccovery of a candidate inner Oort cloud planetoid

Wiki(of course)

I find it really interesting, the implications of its orbit. Im sure that uncovering this planets story could tell us alot about our the rest of the solar system and/or Oort cloud.

Feel free to add any info you may also have on the subject.



How have you never heard of Sedna?


90377 Sedna is a very large trans-Neptunian object, which as of 2012 was about three times as far from the Sun as Neptune. Spectroscopy has revealed that Sedna's surface composition is similar to that of some other trans-Neptunian objects, being largely a mixture of water, methane and nitrogen ices with tholins. Its surface is one of the reddest in the Solar System. Neither its mass nor its size are well known and the IAU has not formally designated it as a dwarf planet, although it is considered to be one by several astronomers



Sedna (provisionally designated 2003 VB12) was discovered by Mike Brown (Caltech), Chad Trujillo (Gemini Observatory) and David Rabinowitz (Yale University) on November 14, 2003.


It orbits the sun every 11,400 years in a very elliptical orbit.

Ven though it is considered large for a trans-neptunian object it is infact the 5th largest behind Eris, Pluto (which should be a planet still IMO), Makemake, and Haumea Which are all infact still tiny compared to Earth.


Mike Brown and his team favored the hypothesis that Sedna was lifted into its current orbit by a star from the Sun's birth cluster, arguing that Sedna's aphelion of about 1,000 AU, which is relatively close compared to those of long period comets, is not distant enough to be affected by passing stars at their current distances from the Sun. They propose that Sedna's orbit is best explained by the Sun having formed in an open cluster of several stars that gradually disassociated over time.

en.wikipedia.org...



posted on Apr, 3 2012 @ 11:50 PM
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Cool stuff. Although my knowledge of space and physics usually keeps me grounded, I still enjoy imagining and toying with some of these "theories" involving spacial bodies with extremely long, elliptical orbits, and any possible implications it could have for us on Earth.

In this case it is the time of orbit, which sticks out to me, at 11,000 years...lol. As I said though, it's just fun for me for the most part, especially in this case since it is so miniscule. I know you didn't mention this object in a fearmongering way, but I figured you might have alluded to it, and if not someone was bound to do it regardless, lol. So ya, just fun. Of course it's always JUST FUN until the gravity of a body causes changes on Earth and kills everybody. It's not so fun then.



posted on Apr, 3 2012 @ 11:53 PM
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We report the discovery of the minor planet 2003 VB12 (popularly named Sedna), the most distant object ever seen in the solar system. Pre-discovery images from 2001, 2002, and 2003 have allowed us to refine the orbit sufficiently to conclude that 2003 VB12 is on a highly eccentric orbit which permanently resides well beyond the Kuiper belt with a semimajor axis of 480±40 AU and a perihelion of 76±4AU. Such an orbit is unexpected in our current understanding of the solar system, but could be the result of scattering by a yet-to-be-discovered planet, perturbation by an anomalously close stellar encounter, or formation of the solar system within a cluster of stars.


excerpt from pdf



posted on Apr, 3 2012 @ 11:54 PM
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reply to post by JiggyPotamus
 


I agree, I tried to stay away from the fearmongering as much as possible in my last post and I feel l did quite well.

I couldn't agree more I love everything about astronomy. Im only 23 years old so hopefully I will get to see some amazing things in my years to come. Sadly I don't think I will ever be around for the discovery of life, confirmation of black holes, wormholes or other mysteries of the Universe.

You should get a telescope man and just marvel at the night sky, its awe inspiring.



posted on Apr, 4 2012 @ 12:14 AM
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Sedna is categorized as a "dwarf planet," along with Pluto, Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, Eris, Quaoar and Orcus. There are quite a few other unnamed objects that are probably also dwarf planets, but haven't been confirmed yet. They all still just have number/letter designations.



posted on Apr, 4 2012 @ 05:04 AM
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Confusing matters on dwarf planet IAU classification is actually the first ever discovered (originally considered a planet) (1 Ceres), because it resides in the Asteroid belt and all of the others are Trans-Neptunian 'bodies', or dwarf planets. Also interesting is though (now just Ceres) is considered to have 1/3rd the mass of the entire asteroid belt is is still smaller than (134340) Pluto I (Charon), both less than half the diameter of our moon. Ganymede (Jupiter III) larger than planet Mercury

We also have dwarf planet (136199) Eris and Asteroid (433) Eros. Diminutive asteroid Eros is significant because it was the first asteroid ever orbited by a space probe (2000).

We have planetary moons Phobos (Mars I) and Phoebe (Saturn IX), Dione (Saturn IV) and Demos (Mars II). Also Callisto (Jupiter) and Calypso (Saturn), Titan (Saturn) and Triton (Neptune), Europa and Euporie, both of Jupiter. Not really related just a bit confusing if you aren't privy to the planetary naming themes, even if you are its still a bit much.



posted on Apr, 4 2012 @ 05:21 AM
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seems to be at least dozens of Oort Cloud planetoid bodies

would NOT be surprised one of them is our missing brown semi/dwarf

NASA has even mentioned 'a new class of stars'
in our Outer solar system, in last year's NEO (near earth object) conference



www.space.com...



posted on Apr, 4 2012 @ 08:26 AM
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reply to post by BiggerPicture
 


Again another person taking something out of context. They said that they found a new type of star, they didnt say in the outer solar system. They next talked about a object in the outer solar system that if did exist would have a long circular orbit.




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