How many red dwarfs orbiting beyond Neptune are there?

And this one just happens to be named after a Polynesian god and creator of humanity...

Dwarf planet near Pluto named for Polynesian god
Sat Jul 19, 6:41 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A dwarf planet orbiting beyond Neptune has been designated the third plutoid in the solar system and given the name Makemake, the International Astronomical Union said on Saturday.

The red methane-covered dwarf planet formerly known as 2005 FY9 or "Easterbunny" is named after a Polynesian creator of humanity and god of fertility.

Just last month the IAU, which names planets and other heavenly bodies, decided to create a new class of sub-planets called plutoids.

Pluto, demoted from planet status, and Eris are the other two plutoids. A fourth dwarf planet named Ceres has been excluded from the plutoid club because it orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Makemake is just slightly smaller and dimmer than Pluto and was only discovered in 2005.

"The orbit is not particularly strange, but the object itself is big, probably about two-thirds the size of Pluto," said Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology, who discovered and named Makemake (pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh).

It was the discovery of these trans-Neptunian objects that led the IAU to re-designate just what it meant to be a planet.

Brown said the name came to him when he was looking for a mythological god and thought of the South Pacific's Easter Island. Makemake was the chief god among people who settled the island.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox; editing by Todd Eastham)

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[edit on 21-7-2008 by Jbird]

Sorry... I don't think I get your point here. Where's the conspiracy?

I'm looking for the red dwarf personally.
True, it's a dwarf planet, with a methan atmosphere, however it is neither Nibiru, or even, I imagine, red. Unless something bad happened with a match.

we could actually have tens of planets beyond Pluto . I do not find it strange at all

Red Drawfs are actually stars not planets or planetoids.
en.wikipedia.org...

So I wouldn't call it a red drawf, its only a tiny planetoid.
There can be many out there beyond pluto, which come into view as our telescopes evolve. For me personally, it hardly matters how many are there, they are all cold rocks floating around in darkness.....

But who knows, one of them could be interesting, chances are slim but.

As time goes on i can only imagine that more and more objects are going to be found on the outskirts of the solar system.
The increase in telescope and astronomical technologies, the increase in satelite launches and the increased ability for the avereage person to sit at a computer and search the stars.

The good thing about finding more planetary bodies with atmospheres of whatever composition means a greater chance of finding life, be it inteligent or not.

There is actually a very real possibility that a planet the size of Earth could be orbiting the Sun beyond the Kuiper Belt. Many scattered disk objects (icy planetoids that are located outside the main belt) have unusually high eccentricities and inclinations. This is difficult to understand unless they have been perturbed into these orbits by a relatively massive body.

reply to post by GoldenFleece


Thank you for the post Golden Fleece!
I have been seeking more information on Makemake (Maki Maki).
I have good telescopes but have yet to find anything "new", a few asteroids that I thought I'd discovered turned out to be already found, plotted, and named, but too new to be included on my best telescopes software(upgrade time!).
Have a pint or two on me!
All The Best
Luminaught

[edit on 22-7-2008 by Luminaught]