A lot of confusion today over a Kuiper Belt object that is of planetary size. Or maybe it is. Or, well, it's quite confusing. Take the NY Times:
"It is guaranteed bigger than Pluto," said Michael E. Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy at Caltech, who led the team that made the discovery. "Even if it were 100 percent reflective, it would be larger than Pluto. It can't be more than 100 percent reflective."But then Space.com sees it differently. Quoting the same Caltech scientist:
Pluto is about 1,400 miles across. Brown figures 2003 EL61 has a diameter of around 930 miles.So, there you have it: Guaranteed to be larger than Pluto, but definitely, absolutely smaller.Is there any chance it is bigger than Pluto?
"No," Brown said in a telephone interview. "Definitely not."
In fact, Brown's team got the new data they had been waiting for, from the Spitzer Space Telescope, last week. While not fully analyzed, he said the Spitzer observations show "absolutely" that the object is not bigger than Pluto.