ForumsWEPRQuaoar, the newest planet . . . or is it?

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Pegasus
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Pegasus
106 posts
Nomad

What is it? An "ice dwarf", apparently, and, according to its discoverers, Mike Brown and Chad Trujilo of the California Institute of Technology, Quaoar (and Pluto) should be referred to as "Kuiper-belt objects". The Kuiper belt is like a second asteroid belt, but while most asteroids orbit between Mars and Jupiter the Kuiper belt is at the icy fringes of the solar system, far beyond the eighth planet, Neptune.

Read more about it here http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/07/1033538894512.html

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thelistman
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thelistman
1,416 posts
Shepherd

There are tons of micro-planets out there in our solar system. And whether or not something is declared a planet doesn't bug me at all.

Pegasus
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Pegasus
106 posts
Nomad

But this planet could change everything. There could be another planet to look at for life and it we could life there.

woody_7007
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woody_7007
2,662 posts
Peasant

what about planet X. Scientists belive there is another planet which in relation to the earath and our orbit is always blocked from view by the sun as it orbits in an almost exact opposite ellipsis to ours. I am not makning this up by the way. Planet X is what scientists call it becasue it is a new and supposedly unknown planet so they caled it X because they thought it a befitting name.

necromancer
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necromancer
750 posts
Peasant

@Pegasus- A small ball of ice doesn't have the energy to sustain life, organisms need energy which Quaoar doesn't have. (BTW Europa, although icy on the outside, might have life because of the thermal energy created by Jupiter's gravitational pull)

@Woody- I haven't ever heard of anything like that, but I doubt that's true, too unlikely for a planet to have the same orbital period as Earth. BTW Planet X was supposed to be the tenth planet (hence X, roman numeral for 10), however, it was supposed to be a body past Pluto, altering the eccentricity of Neptune's orbit, until astronomers recalculated the orbit and realized they had gotten it wrong.

EL_Dyablo_666
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EL_Dyablo_666
579 posts
Nomad

I would say Yes, and I heard it in the news.

d0m1nated14
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d0m1nated14
718 posts
Farmer

I dont think man was meant to live anywhere else but Earth...

Pegasus
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Pegasus
106 posts
Nomad

Woody, Planet X is Pluto for your information. And d0m1nated14, God made other planets for us to explore, so that is what we are doing.

woody_7007
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woody_7007
2,662 posts
Peasant

@ Pegasus how come you are focusing on Qoaoar? Is it because there is ice and you think where there is water there is life? What about all of the other trans Neptunian objects like Varuna, Orcus, Sedna, El61, FY9, Eris and indeed Pluto.

Pegasus
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Pegasus
106 posts
Nomad

That is one of the many reasons I have, but there could be life out there and this is the way to find it. You have to look and see for other planets. If there is ice, that means there could be water. So there is a possiblity of life on the planets.

necromancer
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necromancer
750 posts
Peasant

@ Pegasus- Pluto is not Planet X, I said it before; Planet X would have been the tenth planet from the sun, before being demoted, Pluto was the ninth. What are your other reasons for suspecting Quaoar has life? Its too cold to have life, life needs energy which Quaoar doesn't have.

crimsonblade55
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crimsonblade55
5,420 posts
Shepherd

well you don't know.If there was life on other planets, who's to say they even need water, or sunlight for that matter.In my oppinion there could be life on any given planet.The appropriate term though would be Intelligent Life Forms.The reason for this is because they found samples of bacteria on Mars I think.Just don't quote me on it though.

DivineDarkness
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DivineDarkness
1,226 posts
Nomad

Well, one of Jupiter's moons europa http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/images/big/zacaton/europa.jpg Has a crusty layer of ice, then water and according to studys there are organisms under the ice! So, give it a few 100,000 years and you got yourself a fish or what ever those organisms have adapted to. (I have said this in a thread before.)

dragoncrusher
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dragoncrusher
773 posts
Peasant

There are a million of these small planets. You dont see them becoming planets..do you.

Estel
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Estel
1,973 posts
Peasant

@Crimsonblade.
1. reproduction
2. growth and/or differentiation through metabolism (which usually implies some form of respiration)
3. adaptation to the environment
4. the ability to distort entropy--that is, to increase or maintain the organization of the living system at the expense of the environment
taken from: [url]http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071229125507AAQV56o[/url] (I know it could be from any random person, but it is correct)

Now this also includes the need for food, water and energy. Food can be anything such as other cells. Water is just water, and energy can be narrowed down to as sunlight. Therefore, for anything to sustain life, water and sunlight are needed.

Jikek
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Jikek
1,187 posts
Nomad

yea there has been alot happening in our solar system in the past few years...

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