[OT?] Fwd: NASA SCHEDULES NEWS BRIEFING ABOUT UNUSUAL SOLAR OBJECT

forwarded by Terry...3 letters concerning the POSSIBLE
discovery/announcement of our system's 10th planet...can't vouch for the
accuracy of any of this, but it will be interesting to see what happens
tomorrow and what arguments sprout-up if it is indeed in the Kuiper Belt and
1/3 the size of the Earth.

Terry Trees

Come enjoy the skies with us at:

www.LHStarCruise.org

**********************************************

Donald Savage/Dwayne Brown

Headquarters, Washington March 12, 2004

(Phone: 202/358-1547/1726)

Jane Platt

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

(Phone: 818/354-0880)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N04-040

NASA SCHEDULES NEWS BRIEFING ABOUT UNUSUAL SOLAR OBJECT

The discovery of a mysterious object in our solar system

is the topic of a listen-and-log-on news briefing on Monday,

March 15, at 1 p.m. EST.

Dr. Michael Brown, associate professor of planetary astronomy,

California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. will

present his discovery of the most distant object ever detected

orbiting the sun. He and colleagues made the discovery as part

of a NASA-funded research project.

The virtual news briefing is only for reporters. Reporters in

the United States can listen to the briefing and participate in

the question-and-answer session by calling: 888/889-1963.

Overseas media may call: 1/773/756-4808. Calls to these lines

should start at 12:50 p.m. EST. The passcode is: "objects."

Graphics supporting this news briefing will be posted Monday on

the Internet by 1 p.m. EST:

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2004-

05/telecon/

Images and information about this discovery will be on the

Internet at:

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media...ses/ssc2004-05

&

http://www.nasa.gov

*******************Letter # 2*************************************

Here's it's orbital data. It's orbit is past pluto.

From Minor planet centre

2004 DW

Epoch 2004 July 14.0 TT = JDT 2453200.5 MPC

M 157.53935 (2000.0) P Q

n 0.00397415 Peri. 73.33306 +0.88938207 +0.29291815

a 39.4736087 Node 268.53705 -0.41786255 +0.83230339

e 0.2179109 Incl. 20.55528 +0.18544657 +0.47060603

P 248 H 2.4 G 0.15 U 2

From JPL

JPL DASTCOM Database Browser

Asteroid (2004 DW)

Alternate Designation: none

Record Number 118761

SPK-ID(s) 3175341

Epoch of Osculation (Julian Day, ET) 2453200.5

Epoch of Osculation (Calendar Date, ET) 2004-07-14

Astronomical Reference System FK5/J2000

Orbit Solution Reference MPC4-E23



OSCULATING ORBITAL ELEMENTS

(heliocentric ecliptic reference frame)

Mean Anomaly (deg) 157.53775

Argument of Perihelion (deg) 73.33426

Longitude of the Ascending Node (deg) 268.53706

Inclination (deg) 20.55528

Eccentricity 0.2179065

Semi-major Axis (AU) 39.4739058

Perihelion Passage (Julian Day, ET) 2413559.3862887

Perihelion Passage (Calendar Date, ET) 1895-12-31.8862896

Perihelion Distance (AU) 30.872285146

PHYSICAL PARAMETERS

GM (km^3 s^-2) n/a

Radius (km) n/a

H (absolute magnitude) 2.400

G (magnitude slope parameter) 0.15

Color Index (B-V) n/a

Rotation Period (h) n/a

Geometric Albedo n/a

Spectral Class n/a

Orbit Solution Data Arc 1951-2004

Observations used in Orbit Solution 78

Comments A 2004 DW OCC=1 h M-v 38

Comments B



Ephemeris from jpl

************************************************** **************************

**********************

Date__(UT)__HR:MN R.A.__(airls-apparent)__DEC r rdot

delta deldot

************************************************** **************************

**********************

2004-Mar-13 00:00 09 23 40.8657 -03 19 23.746 47.6113875268 0.27951

46.7747124799 13.39150

2004-Mar-14 00:00 09 23 37.4066 -03 18 56.688 47.6115489574 0.27944

46.7825751958 13.83166

2004-Mar-15 00:00 09 23 33.9971 -03 18 29.499 47.6117103492 0.27937

46.7906909469 14.26778

2004-Mar-16 00:00 09 23 30.6366 -03 18 02.178 47.6118717019 0.27931

46.7990573212 14.69959

2004-Mar-17 00:00 09 23 27.3249 -03 17 34.734 47.6120330157 0.27924

46.8076717552 15.12682

2004-Mar-18 00:00 09 23 24.0621 -03 17 07.177 47.6121942905 0.27917

46.8165315232 15.54919

2004-Mar-19 00:00 09 23 20.8497 -03 16 39.529 47.6123555262 0.27910

46.8256337331 15.96641

2004-Mar-20 00:00 09 23 17.6896 -03 16 11.809 47.6125167228 0.27904

46.8349753295 16.37820

2004-Mar-21 00:00 09 23 14.5844 -03 15 44.041 47.6126778803 0.27897

46.8445531051 16.78432

2004-Mar-22 00:00 09 23 11.5366 -03 15 16.244 47.6128389985 0.27890

46.8543637166 17.18455

2004-Mar-23 00:00 09 23 08.5486 -03 14 48.434 47.6130000775 0.27883

46.8644037041 17.57869

2004-Mar-24 00:00 09 23 05.6224 -03 14 20.621 47.6131611171 0.27877

46.8746695115 17.96661

2004-Mar-25 00:00 09 23 02.7594 -03 13 52.815 47.6133221175 0.27870

46.8851575045 18.34817

2004-Mar-26 00:00 09 22 59.9605 -03 13 25.021 47.6134830785 0.27863

46.8958639850 18.72328

2004-Mar-27 00:00 09 22 57.2262 -03 12 57.243 47.6136440002 0.27856

46.9067852029 19.09186

2004-Mar-28 00:00 09 22 54.5568 -03 12 29.486 47.6138048825 0.27850

46.9179173642 19.45384

************************************************** **************************

**********************

Column meaning:

TIME

Prior to 1962, times are UT1. Dates thereafter are UTC. Any 'b' symbol in

the 1st-column denotes a B.C. date. First-column blank (" ") denotes an A.D.

date. Calendar dates prior to 1582-Oct-15 are in the Julian calendar system.

Later calendar dates are in the Gregorian system.

The uniform Coordinate Time scale is used internally. Conversion between

CT and the selected non-uniform UT output scale has not been determined for

UTC times after the next July or January 1st. The last known leap-second

is used over any future interval.

NOTE: "n.a." in output means quantity "not available" at the print-time.

R.A._(airls-apparent)__DEC. =

Airless apparent right ascension and declination of the target with

respect

to the Earth true-equator and meridian containing the Earth true equinox of

date. Corrected for light-time, the gravitational deflection of light,

stellar

aberration, precession and nutation. Units: HMS (HH MM SS.ffff) and

DMS (DD MM SS.fff)

r rdot =

Target apparent heliocentric range ("r") and range-rate ("rdot") as seen

by observer. Units: AU and KM/S

delta deldot =

Target apparent range ("delta") and range-rate ("delta-dot") relative to

observer. Units: AU and KM/S

*******************Letter # 3**********************************************

It is a object discovered a few weeks ago. It is greater than 2000k

across(close to 1/3 Earth diameter), very large. Orbit has not been

established but appears to be close to or outside Pluto. Speculation

points to a Kuiper Belt object. Lets wait and see the outcome.

Here's a snippet from the HST Daily Report:

Loads for SA075O02_F1 were signed off @ 072/0800z. SA075O02
supercedes SA075O01, and includes the additional "Director's
Discretionary Target" for proposal # 10041 "Characterization of a
Planetary-sized Body in the Inner Oort Cloud".

"Terry N. Trees" wrote in message
...
forwarded by Terry...3 letters concerning the POSSIBLE
discovery/announcement of our system's 10th planet...can't vouch for the
accuracy of any of this, but it will be interesting to see what happens
tomorrow and what arguments sprout-up if it is indeed in the Kuiper Belt
and
1/3 the size of the Earth.

amd

It is a object discovered a few weeks ago. It is greater than 2000k
across(close to 1/3 Earth diameter), very large. Orbit has not been
established but appears to be close to or outside Pluto. Speculation
points to a Kuiper Belt object. Lets wait and see the outcome

2004DW was discovered weeks ago, though. Furthermore, it
is likely NOT the 2000+ km figure mentioned here... current
estimates (unless this scientist has determined something new)
are around 1600 km in diameter. It could be much less, and
simply be very bright, which is not unheard of. In any case, it
is nowhere near Pluto's size (2400 km diameter). And finally,
Earth's diameter is 12,756 km. If by "1/3 the size of ..." you
are referring to diameter, that would require 4,250+ km.
There is no way one would use 2,000 km and "1/3 the size of
Earth" to refer to the same object... more like 4,000 km.
And if you mean by volume, then it's even smaller relatively
by that measure compared to Earth's volume.

Bruce

Terry N. Trees wrote:

forwarded by Terry...3 letters concerning the POSSIBLE
discovery/announcement of our system's 10th planet...can't
vouch for the accuracy of any of this, but it will be
interesting to see what happens tomorrow and what arguments
sprout-up if it is indeed in the Kuiper Belt and 1/3 the size
of the Earth.

Try: http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/sedna/

--
Dan Tilque

"Terry N. Trees" wrote in message
...
forwarded by Terry...3 letters concerning the POSSIBLE
discovery/announcement of our system's 10th planet...can't vouch for the
accuracy of any of this, but it will be interesting to see what happens
tomorrow and what arguments sprout-up if it is indeed in the Kuiper Belt
and
1/3 the size of the Earth.

Quite a leap from "UNUSUAL SOLAR OBJECT" to "our system's 10th planet"
wouldn't you say?