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(IAAC) [OT?] Fwd: NASA SCHEDULES NEWS BRIEFING ABOUT UNUSUAL SOLAR OBJECT

forwarded by Terry...3 letters concerning the POSSIBLE
discovery/announcement of our system's 10th planet...can't vouch for the
accuracy of any of this, but it will be interesting to see what happens
tomorrow and what arguments sprout-up if it is indeed in the Kuiper Belt and
1/3 the size of the Earth.

Terry Trees
Come enjoy the skies with us at:
www.LHStarCruise.org

**********************************************

Donald Savage/Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington                    March 12, 2004
(Phone: 202/358-1547/1726)

Jane Platt
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/354-0880)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N04-040

NASA SCHEDULES NEWS BRIEFING ABOUT UNUSUAL SOLAR OBJECT

     The discovery of a mysterious object in our solar system
is the topic of a listen-and-log-on news briefing on Monday,
March 15, at 1 p.m. EST.

Dr. Michael Brown, associate professor of planetary astronomy,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. will
present his discovery of the most distant object ever detected
orbiting the sun. He and colleagues made the discovery as part
of a NASA-funded research project.

The virtual news briefing is only for reporters. Reporters in
the United States can listen to the briefing and participate in
the question-and-answer session by calling: 888/889-1963.
Overseas media may call: 1/773/756-4808. Calls to these lines
should start at 12:50 p.m. EST. The passcode is: "objects."

Graphics supporting this news briefing will be posted Monday on
the Internet by 1 p.m. EST:

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2004-
05/telecon/

Images and information about this discovery will be on the
Internet at:

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2004-05

&

http://www.nasa.gov

*******************Letter # 2*************************************

Here's it's orbital data. It's orbit is past pluto.

>From Minor planet centre

2004 DW
Epoch 2004 July 14.0 TT = JDT 2453200.5                 MPC
M 157.53935              (2000.0)            P               Q
n   0.00397415     Peri.   73.33306     +0.88938207     +0.29291815
a  39.4736087      Node   268.53705     -0.41786255     +0.83230339
e   0.2179109      Incl.   20.55528     +0.18544657     +0.47060603
P 248              H    2.4           G   0.15           U   2

>From JPL

JPL DASTCOM Database Browser
Asteroid (2004 DW)
Alternate Designation: none
Record Number 118761
SPK-ID(s) 3175341
Epoch of Osculation (Julian Day, ET) 2453200.5
Epoch of Osculation (Calendar Date, ET) 2004-07-14
Astronomical Reference System FK5/J2000
Orbit Solution Reference MPC4-E23


OSCULATING ORBITAL ELEMENTS
(heliocentric ecliptic reference frame)
Mean Anomaly (deg) 157.53775
Argument of Perihelion (deg) 73.33426
Longitude of the Ascending Node (deg) 268.53706
Inclination (deg) 20.55528
Eccentricity 0.2179065
Semi-major Axis (AU) 39.4739058
Perihelion Passage (Julian Day, ET) 2413559.3862887
Perihelion Passage (Calendar Date, ET) 1895-12-31.8862896
Perihelion Distance (AU) 30.872285146

PHYSICAL PARAMETERS
GM (km^3 s^-2) n/a
Radius (km) n/a
H (absolute magnitude) 2.400
G (magnitude slope parameter) 0.15
Color Index (B-V) n/a
Rotation Period (h) n/a
Geometric Albedo n/a
Spectral Class n/a
Orbit Solution Data Arc 1951-2004
Observations used in Orbit Solution 78
Comments A 2004 DW OCC=1 h M-v 38
Comments B


Ephemeris from jpl

****************************************************************************
**********************
 Date__(UT)__HR:MN     R.A.__(airls-apparent)__DEC             r      rdot
delta    deldot
****************************************************************************
**********************
 2004-Mar-13 00:00     09 23 40.8657 -03 19 23.746 47.6113875268   0.27951
46.7747124799  13.39150
 2004-Mar-14 00:00     09 23 37.4066 -03 18 56.688 47.6115489574   0.27944
46.7825751958  13.83166
 2004-Mar-15 00:00     09 23 33.9971 -03 18 29.499 47.6117103492   0.27937
46.7906909469  14.26778
 2004-Mar-16 00:00     09 23 30.6366 -03 18 02.178 47.6118717019   0.27931
46.7990573212  14.69959
 2004-Mar-17 00:00     09 23 27.3249 -03 17 34.734 47.6120330157   0.27924
46.8076717552  15.12682
 2004-Mar-18 00:00     09 23 24.0621 -03 17 07.177 47.6121942905   0.27917
46.8165315232  15.54919
 2004-Mar-19 00:00     09 23 20.8497 -03 16 39.529 47.6123555262   0.27910
46.8256337331  15.96641
 2004-Mar-20 00:00     09 23 17.6896 -03 16 11.809 47.6125167228   0.27904
46.8349753295  16.37820
 2004-Mar-21 00:00     09 23 14.5844 -03 15 44.041 47.6126778803   0.27897
46.8445531051  16.78432
 2004-Mar-22 00:00     09 23 11.5366 -03 15 16.244 47.6128389985   0.27890
46.8543637166  17.18455
 2004-Mar-23 00:00     09 23 08.5486 -03 14 48.434 47.6130000775   0.27883
46.8644037041  17.57869
 2004-Mar-24 00:00     09 23 05.6224 -03 14 20.621 47.6131611171   0.27877
46.8746695115  17.96661
 2004-Mar-25 00:00     09 23 02.7594 -03 13 52.815 47.6133221175   0.27870
46.8851575045  18.34817
 2004-Mar-26 00:00     09 22 59.9605 -03 13 25.021 47.6134830785   0.27863
46.8958639850  18.72328
 2004-Mar-27 00:00     09 22 57.2262 -03 12 57.243 47.6136440002   0.27856
46.9067852029  19.09186
 2004-Mar-28 00:00     09 22 54.5568 -03 12 29.486 47.6138048825   0.27850
46.9179173642  19.45384
****************************************************************************
**********************
Column meaning:

TIME

  Prior to 1962, times are UT1. Dates thereafter are UTC. Any 'b' symbol in
the 1st-column denotes a B.C. date. First-column blank (" ") denotes an A.D.
date. Calendar dates prior to 1582-Oct-15 are in the Julian calendar system.
Later calendar dates are in the Gregorian system.

  The uniform Coordinate Time scale is used internally. Conversion between
CT and the selected non-uniform UT output scale has not been determined for
UTC times after the next July or January 1st.  The last known leap-second
is used over any future interval.

  NOTE: "n.a." in output means quantity "not available" at the print-time.

 R.A._(airls-apparent)__DEC. =
   Airless apparent right ascension and declination of the target with
respect
to the Earth true-equator and meridian containing the Earth true equinox of
date. Corrected for light-time, the gravitational deflection of light,
stellar
aberration, precession and nutation. Units: HMS (HH MM SS.ffff) and
DMS (DD MM SS.fff)

 r       rdot =
   Target apparent heliocentric range ("r") and range-rate ("rdot") as seen
by observer. Units: AU and KM/S

 delta  deldot =
   Target apparent range ("delta") and range-rate ("delta-dot") relative to
observer. Units: AU and KM/S

*******************Letter # 3**********************************************

It is a object discovered a few weeks ago. It is greater than 2000k
across(close to 1/3 Earth diameter), very large. Orbit has not been
established but appears to be close to or outside Pluto. Speculation
points to a Kuiper Belt object. Lets wait and see the outcome.


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