Snow White and the Countless Dwarfs

Heigh-ho, heigh ho!    (Public Domain)

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to space we go!  Who knew that the Seven Dwarfs would multiply astronomically?

The Christian Science Monitor reports that the celestial body known as “Snow White” is now thought to be “the third-largest dwarf planet circling our sun.”  First discovered in 2007, Snow White is so-named because of its “particularly bright” appearance. Not only that, it was also the seventh “dwarf” to be found within our solar system.

Thanks to the K2 telescope, it is now known that Snow White (aka “2007OR10”) has one of the solar system’s slowest axial rotations, i.e., 45 hours. Astronomers have therefore estimated that “the planet is about 250 kilometers larger than previously thought.”

Good thing there's plenty of room out there.  Scientists suspect that countless other dwarfs are hiding behind rocks in the Kuiper Belt.

Resources

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0513/Snow-White-Mysterious-dwarf-planet-just-got-bigger 

Copyright May 15, 2016 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved