BOMBAY: Two US astronomers have found a tiny planet beyond Pluto, confirming a theory propounded by eminent Indian astronomer J.J, Ramal in 1978.
The planet, designated “1992 QBI,” has a diameter of 200 km, Dr Rawal, joint director of the Nehru Planetarium, said.
He quoted the astronomers David Jewitt of the University of Hawaii and Jane Luu of the University of California at Berkeley as saying: We are absolutely delighted with the discovery, we were searching for a planet beyond Pluto.”
The astronomers have said: “Because 1992 QBI is so distant, the sun’s radiation affects it very weakly changing its structure very little over cons. This means it may be the greatest time capsule we know of.”
The astronomers discovered the Object orbiting the outer solar system on August 30, using the 2.2 meter telescope on Mauna Kea.
Hawaii and a sophisticated CCD camera. They had searched five years for the planet. The average distance of the newly discovered small planet from the sun is about 7.5 billion km, according to Dr.Rawal; the discovery indicates that “if you look further and harder, you are going to find more objects,” he said. Scientists have confirmed the existence of one of the two planets beyond Pluto theoretically predicted by Dr.Rawal in 1978.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 28, 1993
