on
February 2nd 2006 at 1:29 pm in When first discovered, a lot of scientist were still sceptical as to if this planet really could be considered a planet because of its relatively small size, et cetera.
According to Scientific American, this 10th planet, dubbed Xena, proves to be bigger than Pluto:
When astronomers announced the discovery of UB313, the so-called tenth planet, a little more than a year ago, they had a hunch it might be bigger than Pluto because of its brightness. But despite several attempts to observe more closely the mysterious object orbiting the sun at a distance of more than 14 billion kilometers, accurate estimates of its size remained elusive. Now German astronomers working in Spain have determined that UB313 has a diameter of roughly 3,000 kilometers–roughly 700 kilometers larger than Pluto’s.
Astrologists, time to sync your horoscopes.
Actually — the planet’s designated official name is now Eris. Its size, by the way, sparked a whole debate on what should be considered a planet — Pluto and Eris are dwarf planets now.