10th Planet in the Solar System
It’s official. We know have 10 planets in our solar system. Dubbed Xena, the new planet is said to be much bigger than Pluto. That makes it 75 years since we last discovered a planet which is pretty amazing. (Pluto was discovered in 1930)
(Source: NASA)
Not Xena (it was a joke- and the International Astronomical Union, not their discoverer, names planets and such).
Not larger than Pluto. Initial reports were wrong; it’s about a third of Pluto’s mass.
And not necessarily a planet. That’s being debated right now- even as the IAU struggles with adopting the first scientific definition of the word “planet” in history.
At least two recently discovered Kuiper Belt Objects have just about as strong a case to be made for them as planets as does this new body.