Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Trans-Neptunian Objects

Researchers using archived Hubble Space Telescope images have discovered 14 objects that orbit beyond the orbit of Neptune. They range in size from 25 to 60 miles in diameter.

The objects were found in a tiny sliver of the sky, so astronomers expect to find hundreds or thousands more when they expand the search area. Hubble was studying other things when it took the images being studied, so a new understanding of an entire class of objects deep in the Solar System may be acquired as a by-product of other research. Not a bad deal at all.

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