Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Keck

This object is 44 degrees from the ecliptic!

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/30/science/30planet.html?pagewanted=print&oref=login

What is most surprising is that the orbit of the planet is sharply skewed to most of the rest of the solar system. The orbits of most planets lie close to the same plane as Earth's, known as the ecliptic plane. The orbit of 2003 UB313 is tilted by 44 degrees.

"That blows my mind," said Harold Levison of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., who was not involved in the discovery. "Getting something up that high is very hard."

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