SEDNA MYSTERY DEEPENS WITH HUBBLE IMAGES OF FARTHEST PLANETOID (STScI-PR04-14)

EMBARGOED UNTIL: 1:00 pm (EDT) April 14, 2004

Don Savage
NASA Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202-358-1547; )

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-338-4514; )

Robert Tindol
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
(Phone: 626-395-3631; )

Janet Emanuel
Yale University Office of Public Affairs, New Haven, CT
(Phone: 203-432-2157; E-mail: )

PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR04-14


SEDNA MYSTERY DEEPENS WITH HUBBLE IMAGES OF FARTHEST PLANETOID

Astronomers poring over 35 NASA Hubble Space Telescope images
of the solar system's farthest known object, unofficially named
Sedna, are surprised that the object does not appear to have a
companion moon of any substantial size. This unexpected result might
offer new clues to the origin and evolution of objects on the far edge
of the solar system.

To see and read more about Sedna, please visit:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2004/14

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA),
for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international
cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).

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