Dwarf planets may hold water and methane ice


A possible reconstruction of what OR-10 might look like. Source Wiki

The California Institute of Technology is reporting that half of the Dwarf Planet nicknamed Snow White is covered in water ice that may have flowed from ancient cryo-volcanoes and clad in a thin layer of frozen methane.

Discovered in 2007 orbiting the Sun at the edge of the solar system, Snow White, about half the size of Pluto, is the fifth largest dwarf planet. When first discovered by then graduate student Meg Schwamb, professor Mike Brown name the planet Snow White after its incorrectly presumed white color, but the dwarf planet is actually one of the reddest objects in the solar system.

Object 225088 also known as OR-10 is among the larger dwarves past Neptune, near the mass of Pluto, and currently the largest object in the solar system without a formal name. Alas, the discovery of the reddish color discredits the Snow White moniker. Dwarf planet hunter Mike Brown – interviewed here on Daily Kos — has suggested “Jerry.” Shown below is what Brown, the Killer of Pluto, proudly calls his “children” to date.

Dwarf planets discovered to date & shown to scale courtesy of NASA

Comments

  1. amphiox says

    Shouldn’t it be renamed for Snow White’s sister, then?

    Well, at least according to one source I know, she was bitter over her sister getting all the press….

  2. arakasi says

    Missed opportunity here. I would have been pushing to name them Thorin, Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bilfor, Boufor, & Bombur.

    But maybe that’s just me.

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