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SPACE.com:
3 Small, Icy Worlds Discovered in Pluto's Territory
Astronomers have discovered three small, icy worlds orbiting the sun near Pluto, on the outer reaches of the solar system.
The three newfound bodies are likely big enough to be rounded by their own gravity, which means they may be "dwarf planets" like Pluto, researchers said. Scientists discovered them and eleven other new objects while performing a survey of the Kuiper Belt, the ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune.
"Three of the discoveries would be in the dwarf planet regime," said study lead author Scott Sheppard, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. "The others were much smaller, and they're probably just irregular chunks of ice or rock."
{...}
Using the 1.3-meter Warsaw Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, the team focused their search on the southern skies and the galactic plane, areas that had not been covered completely in previous Kuiper Belt surveys.
They found three objects that seem to be more than 250 miles (400 km) wide — for icy bodies, probably big enough to be molded into a sphere by their own gravity, Sheppard said. That would likely qualify them for "dwarf planet" status.
{...}
3 Small, Icy Worlds Discovered in Pluto's Territory
Astronomers have discovered three small, icy worlds orbiting the sun near Pluto, on the outer reaches of the solar system.
The three newfound bodies are likely big enough to be rounded by their own gravity, which means they may be "dwarf planets" like Pluto, researchers said. Scientists discovered them and eleven other new objects while performing a survey of the Kuiper Belt, the ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune.
"Three of the discoveries would be in the dwarf planet regime," said study lead author Scott Sheppard, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. "The others were much smaller, and they're probably just irregular chunks of ice or rock."
{...}
Using the 1.3-meter Warsaw Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, the team focused their search on the southern skies and the galactic plane, areas that had not been covered completely in previous Kuiper Belt surveys.
They found three objects that seem to be more than 250 miles (400 km) wide — for icy bodies, probably big enough to be molded into a sphere by their own gravity, Sheppard said. That would likely qualify them for "dwarf planet" status.
{...}
