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Posted by rpgo on July 31, 2005, 12:05 pm
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>-> There were two objects announced yesterday. 2003 UB313 seems to be
> -> larger than pluto. 2003 EL61 is not larger than pluto, even though it
> -> was thought to be for a while.
>
> It's too early to say whether either of these objects is larger than
> Pluto, or which is larger than the other. All we know is how much light
> they reflect, from which we can *guess* their sizes only by *guessing*
> their albedos.
>
> But why does it matter? If there is a horde of roughly-Pluto-sized
> things out there beyond Neptune, surely this strengthens the case for
> *not* calling Pluto a planet. It doesn't mean that we have to call the
> other things planets too.
>
> If something is found that is bigger than Mercury, then maybe we should
> call it a planet. But nothing that size has been found yet.
>
> dow
the news releases imply that the lower limit on the size of 2003 UB313 (if
it were a "perfect" reflector) is as large as Pluto.
It is therefore most probably significantly larger.
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