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
^^Haha, soo true. Questions about Pluto, life on Mars, exploration out of our solar system, etc. Our machines are definately advancing at a significant pace, so exploration will keep on increasing as long as technological devices heighten in ability to explore the unknown.
Not everything needs what we require, they can adapt to severe cold, not very much sunlight, no water, we just live on earth and we have adapted to using our surroundings, Water, sunlight, food, cold/hot we are hard-wired with thousands of years time to adapt to everything around us.
@DD- There are basic things that life needs. One of them is a liquid that can dissolve many materials into it and allows for reactions to take place, water is extremely good at both of these. It needs energy (not necessarily solar), without energy reactions cannot occur. It needs molecules capable of forming long chains to store information and energy, carbon is your best bet, silicon might work but it is not nearly as reactive.
