Planet Under Siege

Abstract

There was nothing Brian Marsden could do about it. If it were up to him, he would give 2003 UB₃₁₃ an official name as soon as possible. It was clear to everyone that the discovery of this gigantic ice dwarf, announced by Mike Brown on July 29, 2005, was a historical event which would generate enormous publicity. The year before, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) had introduced a special emergency procedure for exceptional cases like this. The IAU’s Committee on Small Body Nomenclature could now in theory decide on a definite name for a new object within a day. But, in the case of 2003 UB₃₁₃, everyone first had to be in agreement about its status – was it yet another ice dwarf, or was it really a new planet? If it was indeed a planet, Marsden’s committee had no say in what it was to be called.