Fed2 Star - the newsletter for the space trading game Federation 2

The weekly newsletter for Fed2
by ibgames

EARTHDATE: March 30, 2014

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REAL LIFE NEWS: THERE IS A PLANET BEYOND PLUTO AFTER ALL

by Hazed

A new dwarf planet has been discovered out beyond Pluto, and its orbit hints that there might be another unseen planet – a giant rocky world ten times bigger than Earth, orbiting far from Pluto.

Now, when I read this, I was confused – because a few weeks ago I reported on the fact that there was no Planet X beyond Pluto. But the survey that came to that conclusion was looking for gas giant planets, which it failed to find: this new dwarf planet is too cold to have shown up using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, and the unseen giant is as yet such speculation.

This new discovery was actually photographed in November 2012, and now an astronomer from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC has found that it’s a lump of rock and ice, 450km wide, and about twice as far from the sun as Pluto’s orbit. This makes it the most distant planet in the Solar System.

It’s been dubbed 2012 VP113 but the discovering team first shortened that to VP, and then nicknamed it Biden after the current US Vice President.

Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25301-new-dwarf-planet-hints-at-giant-world-far-beyond-pluto.html#.UzPpA_l_v-s
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/27/scientists_spot_redfaced_biden_dwarf_wandering_the_depths_of_the_solar_system/

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