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File:Oort cloud Sedna orbit.jpg

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Description

These four panels show the location of trans-Neptunian object 90377 Sedna, which lies in the farthest reaches of the Solar system. Each panel, moving clockwise from the upper left, successively zooms out to place Sedna in context.

The first panel shows the orbits of the inner planets and Jupiter; and the asteroid belt.

In the second panel, Sedna is shown well outside the orbits of Neptune and the Kuiper belt objects.

Sedna's full orbit is illustrated in the third panel along with the object's location in 2004, nearing its closest approach to the Sun.

The final panel zooms out much farther, showing that even this large elliptical orbit falls inside what was previously thought to be the inner edge of the spherical Oort cloud: a distribution of cold, icy bodies lying at the limits of the Sun's gravitational pull. Sedna's presence suggests that the previously speculated inner disk on the ecliptic does exist.
Date
Source [1] [2] Splitzer Space Telescope Released Images about Sedna
Author

Image courtesy of NASA / JPL-Caltech / R. Hurt

Original text courtesy of NASA / JPL-Caltech
Permission
(Reusing this file)
Public domain This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
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References

  1. JPL. Most Distant Object in Solar System Discovered archive copy at the Wayback Machine. Press release: Jet Propulsion Laboratory. March 15, 2004.

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current08:48, 19 September 2005Thumbnail for version as of 08:48, 19 September 20052,499 × 2,499 (542 KB)Bricktoplarger
00:05, 24 March 2005Thumbnail for version as of 00:05, 24 March 2005577 × 577 (47 KB)Smartech~commonswiki{{PD-USGov-NASA}}

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