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New dwarf planet spotted at the edge of the solar system (www.newscientist.com)

submitted 4 days ago by neme@lemm.ee to c/astronomy@mander.xyz

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[–] tiny_hedgehog@lemm.ee 16 points 4 days ago (10 children)

“The object is currently about 90.5 astronomical units (AU) away from us, or roughly 90 times as far from Earth as the sun is.”

This sentence pissed me off so much and I stopped reading after it.

It is 90.5 times as far from the Sun as the Earth is from the Sun. Why’d you have to go and change the frame of reference to Earth?

[–] Kichae@lemmy.ca 17 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It didn't. It's 90.5 AU from us, and us is Earth. Or do you live on the Sun?

[–] tiny_hedgehog@lemm.ee -1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

If we are 1AU from the sun, and this planet is 90AU from the sun, then it is between 89 and 91 AUs from earth depending on the progress of our orbits (assuming perfectly circular orbits). So they did change the frame of reference.

[–] lud@lemm.ee 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

This dwarf planet is 90 AU from US not from the sun. They just said that the dwarf planet is 90 AU away from us and that 1 AU is equal to the distance between the sun and the earth.

But since the dwarf planets orbit is extremely eccentric that varies heavily.

[–] tiny_hedgehog@lemm.ee 1 points 3 days ago

You are right. I stand corrected.

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