On August 1, 2005 I told you that Scientists had discovered a 10th Planet in this post. Well,The astronomers who claim to have discovered the 10th planet in the solar system have another intriguing announcement: It has a moon.
In July, scientists announced the discovery of an icy, rocky object larger than Pluto in the Kuiper Belt, a disc of icy bodies beyond Neptune. Scientists labeled the object a planet and nicknamed it Xena after the lead character in the former TV series ``Xena: Warrior Princess.'' The moon was nicknamed Gabrielle, after Xena's faithful traveling sidekick.
The discovery of Gabrielle is not likely to quell debate about what exactly makes a planet. The problem is there is no official definition for a planet and setting standards like size limits potentially invites other objects to take the ``planet'' label.
Possessing a moon is not a criteria of planethood since Mercury and Venus are moonless planets. Scientists expected to find a moon orbiting Xena because many Kuiper Belt objects are paired with moons.Gabrielle is about 155 miles wide and 60 times fainter than Xena, the farthest-known object in the solar system. It is currently 9 billion miles away from the sun, or about three times Pluto's current distance from the sun.
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