Re: [guide-user] New solar system object

Bill J Gray Jul 30, 2005

Just a note that may simplify people's lives a bit:

If you save Kevin Fetter's message as a file, or the MPEC he referenced
in his message, you can then use Extras... Add MPC Comets/Asteroids, and
then click on the line at the bottom ("Add MPC Comets/Asteroids", in red).
You'll be prompted to select a file; click on the file you've saved, and
Guide will paw through it and extract the elements for 2000 UB313.

You can then use Go To... Object Name, enter 2003 UB313, and find the
object in question.

Be advised that this has been a busy news day, with three big objects
found beyond the orbit of Pluto:

2000 UB313 is at least as big as Pluto and three times more distant. (If
it reflects every bit of light it receives, it'll be bigger than Pluto;
if it's a little darker than that, and it probably is, it could be quite
a bit bigger than Pluto.)

The discoverers are calling this a planet, and they could be right,
depending on what you call a planet. It's certainly a big, interesting
object, and the semantics of what a planet is are of much lesser interest.

2005 FY9 should be roughly Pluto-sized, and is slightly further out than
Pluto. You can get elements at

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/mpec/K05/K05O42.html

and import them to Guide in the manner described above.

2003 EL61 has a satellite, which has enabled its mass to be determined: about
30% that of Pluto. Still something of a whopper; it'd be major news, had the
other two objects not cropped up. Elements (again importable to Guide) are at

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/mpec/K05/K05O36.html

-- Bill