90377 Sedna Trivia Quiz

Answer: 11,400 years

With such an orbit, it is highly unlikely that the object was perturbed by Neptune's gravity, which influences most object beyond its orbit. There are several theories about what could be causing this, though by early 2016, none had been confirmed.

Answer: Hills Cloud

The Hills Cloud, alternatively referred to as the inner Oort Cloud, is a region where an estimated 80-120 objects of Sedna's size and orbit lie. The Oort Cloud itself is like a sphere enveloping the Solar System, whereas the Hills Cloud is more of a disc.

Answer: It was thought to have an inexplicably slow rotation

Sedna was first thought to have a rotation period of 20 to 50 days, unusual for an object of its size. This led to the theory that it may have had a large companion tugging on it and gravitationally slowing its rotation, though it was later confirmed that the object actually had a rotational period of ten hours.

Answer: Due to its location

Again owing to its extreme potential distance of 937 AU, Sedna was named such because of the goddess's relation to the deep sea, namely the cold depths of the Arctic Ocean.

Answer: An impact with an extremely large object

One of the earliest proposed ideas of how Sedna was pushed to where it is was as a result of Neptune's gravity, but it was quickly disproved as its orbit was refined. Until a sky-wide search conducted with the WiSE Telescope, it was thought that Sedna may have been a captured object, but no known nearby stars fit any calculation that could show this.

It was then proposed that during the Solar System's nascence, a close neighboring star pulled Sedna into its current orbit due to the initial proximity of newborn stars.

This, too, however, has been largely disproved by the astronomical society at large.

Answer: Have an extreme orbit like Sedna itself

To be precise, sednoids are defined as objects with perihelia greater than 50 AU and with an average orbital distance of more than 150 AU. The increasing amount of discovery of such objects beginning in 2015 suggests that, like Pluto being the doorstep to the Kuiper Belt, Sedna may prove to be the first step in another breakthrough in astronomy.

Answer: Samuel Oschin Telescope

In 2001, a search was begun using this telescope, located near San Diego, California, for objects farther than Pluto. At the time, there were not many objects of that known quality, but hundreds were discovered within the next decade and a half. One of the first enormous telescopes to be built and kept on the planet, it has a 48 inch radius and continued to find use for several years to come.

Answer: Its mass is impossible to properly measure

Sedna is an unfortunate victim of the "two body problem" - that is, an object's mass cannot be easily calculated using data from only it and what it orbits alone. However, if an object has a satellite of its own, then it becomes much easier to confirm its exact mass. Until this is known, it is unlikely for the IAU to do so, and the only practical way to do so would be to send a space probe.

Answer: It is relatively free of impact craters

Using observations of spectroscopic views, it was determined that Sedna is about the same shade of red around its entire body. Due to its extreme orbit, it can be deduced that it and other objects like it rarely suffer impacts from other objects.

Answer: True

Using data collected from the discovery of several sednoids, Mike Brown et al. announced the theory of a planet between the mass of Earth and Neptune existing anywhere between 200-1200 AU from the Sun, pulling such objects away. Brown's team referred to the object as Planet Nine.

However, other planetary scientists such as Alan Stern took a liking to naming it Planet One Hundred and Something due to disagreeing theories on the definition of a planet.