While NASA remains intentionally vague, promising only a news conference Monday, The Australian has the details. The new planet, dubbed Sedna after the Inuit goddess of the sea, is 3 billion km further from the sun than Pluto, and is slightly smaller at 2000km in diameter. This discovery has apparently reignited the debate as to how big a solar object must be in order to qualify as a ‘planet’, but it is significant nonetheless.
Source: Slashdot
View: Nasa’s vague info page
View: The Australian’s details
Update:
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Image #1: These three panels show the first detection of the faint distant object dubbed "Sedna." Imaged on November 14th from 6:32 to 9:38 Universal Time, Sedna was identified by the slight shift in position noted in these three pictures taken at different times. Image courtesy: NASA/Caltech.
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Image #2: The artist's rendition shows "Sedna" in relation to other bodies in the solar system, including Earth and its Moon; Pluto; and Quaoar, a planetoid beyond Pluto that was until now the largest known object beyond Pluto. Image courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
ya dear it was first thought that we've encountered a new planet in our slar system but unfortunately not. actually its a planetoid or solar object about 700-800 km across. some scientists are even questioning whether pluto be considered a planet or not. lets hope that we could really have another one.