10/8/2002: Quaoar

[Undertoad]

There's a newly-found object out there in our solar system, and its name is Quaoar. It's a chunk of ice and rock about half the size of Pluto, but it's in solar orbit way beyond Pluto.

This image is what it would look like if Quaoar (pronounced kwa-whar) was headed down to Earth to hit Iowa. No, no, it's just a news image meant to compare the size of this object with the size of the Earth.

Caltech astronomers weren't looking for it, but were surprised to find an unexpected point of light while looking at another constellation. They pointed Hubble at it to get a better idea of what they were looking at.

Last Sunday's 60 Minutes highlighted Hubble. I griped about its cost when it was originally going up, but now that the costs have been sunk in, this thing is an incredible gift to mankind. Mankind's understanding of the universe has come an enormous long way in the last decade. Although the mysteries still confound us in very uncomfortable ways, Hubble is a giant leap forward, it's truly amazing.