2003 UB<sub>313</sub>: A Tenth Planet?
			
		
		
			Illustration; Discovery Credit:  
M. Brown 
(Caltech), 
C. Trujillo 
(Gemini), 
D. Rabinowitz (Yale),
NSF,
NASA
		
		
			Has a tenth planet been discovered?  
A newly discovered object, designated 2003 UB313 and 
located more than twice the distance of Pluto, 
is expected to be at least as large as 
Pluto 
and probably larger, given current measurements.
2003 UB313's dimness and 
highly tilted orbit (44 degrees) 
prevented it from being discovered sooner. 
Many astronomers speculate that numerous 
other icy objects 
larger than Pluto likely exist in the 
Kuiper Belt of the far distant 
Solar System.  
If so, and if some are found closer in than 
2003 UB313, 
it may be premature to call 
2003 UB313 the tenth planet.
Illustrated above is an 
artist's drawing showing how
2003 UB313 might look.  
The unusually bright star on the right is the Sun. 
Much of the world eagerly await the decision by the 
International Astronomical Union 
on whether 
2003 UB313 will be 
designated a planet or given a name without subscripts.