ONE of the remote icy objects beyond the orbits of Neptune and Pluto has
become a fully paid-up member of the Solar System. Until now, 鈥淭rans Neptunian
Objects鈥� or TNOs have only been given temporary designations. But from now on
one of them will officially be known as (20 000) Varuna, says the International
Astronomical Union.
The icy object was discovered last November. With an estimated diameter of
some 1000 kilometres, it is the largest TNO discovered so far鈥攁lthough a
few years ago, a proposal to classify Pluto as the 10,000th minor body in the
Solar System was rejected after it was opposed by many astronomers.
Its number indicates that Varuna is the 20,000th official minor body in the
Solar System. Designation requires an accurate orbit to be determined. It is
named after a Vedic Hindu deity, Varuna, who was lord of death for Hindus and
also lord of the cosmos.
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Lutz Schmadel of the University of Heidelberg in Germany says the main reason
the IAU chose to name this large TNO now was that the neat, round number 20,000
was available. 鈥淲e will probably have to wait a long time before the next TNO
will be named,鈥� he says.