First pictures of Sedna, the most distant known planetoid in the solar system. |
Its discovery, along with Quaoar and Eris helped to spark a debate within the International Astronomical Union which ended up narrowing the definition for a classical planet in 2006. They came away with requirements for classical planets being: They must orbit the Sun solely, have a mass that is large enough to be nearly round, and have cleared all debris from its orbit.
The discovery is strong evidence for the existence of the Oort Cloud. Namely its orbital pattern. The pattern is unlike the known solar system, but it syncs up to what predicted objects within the Oort Cloud would be like. Because of the distance from the sun, the gravity it is bound to is fairly weak, and prone to fluctuations from outside influences. Much like comets that come from the Cloud are pushed by closely passing bodies, one may have elongated the orbit of Sedna this way.
Clavin, W. (2004). Planet-Like Body Discovered at Fringes of Our Solar System. Retrieved from http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/planet_like_body.html
Howell, E. (2014). Sedna: Possible Dwarf Planet Far From the Sun. Retrieved from http://www.space.com/25695-sedna-dwarf-planet.html
Jet Propulsion Laboratory: California Institute of Technology. (2015). JPL Small-Body Database Browser. Retrieved from http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Sedna
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