For the first time, the Hubble telescope has taken some images of the “10th planet” in our solar system, nicknamed “Xena”. It’s found to be slightly larger than Pluto.
The image above is not from the Hubble, it’s an artist rendition of the planet. Xena, officially cataloged as 2003 UB313, is 10 Billion miles from Earth, so the actual images of the planet from the Hubble are only 1.5 pixels wide. Amazingly, it is enough for scientists to accurately measure the planet.
There is actually some debate on whether or not Xena should be considered a planet or not. I think this is cool stuff, but I’m totally not up on my astronomy, so instead of trying to explain all of this, I’ll just point you to the links to get more of this story.
Links: Story w/ Images, Nasa Press Release, Kuiper Belt?
Found via Timmy’s Blog: Esc
You know, I’m not even totally convinced that Pluto is a planet.