Giant Icy Celestial Body found 1.6 billion kms far from Pluto

A giant icy mass, 1,287 kms in diameter, was found 1.6 billion kms far from Pluto, the farthest planet from the Sun.

This object, which was named “Quoa” meaning creativity in American Indians’ mythology, orbits the sun 6.4 billion kilometers away every 288 years. This object is a tenth of the earth, or half of Pluto in diameter.

Michael Brown, planetary scientist at California Institute of Technology and Chadwik Truhiyo, postdoctoral fellow made an announcement on the icy object at a meeting of the American Astronomy Society held In Birmingham, Alabama, on Oct. 7.

They found the object on June 4 among icy masses and rocks floating in the Kuiper Belt captured on the picture taken from the Paloma astronomical observatory.

The largest celestial body found for the first time since the discovery of Pluto in 1930 was too small to be recognized as a planet but it is an important clue to study of the mysterious periphery of the solar system, the New York Times reported on Oct. 8.

The National Astronautics and Space Administration plans to launch a spacecraft to conduct a probe around Pluto in 2006 after it secures enough funds. It takes 10 years for a spacecraft to reach Pluto.

konihong@donga.com