Credit: NASA/Caltech/M. Brown

Discovery Image

These three panels show the first detection of the faint distant object dubbed "Sedna." Imaged on November 14th, 2003 from 6:32 to 9:38 Universal Time, Sedna was identified by the slight shift in position noted in these three pictures taken at different times. Subsequent observations at longer time intervals provided the information necessary to deduce the nature of Sedna's 10,500 year orbit around the Sun. The field of view of each frame is 3.4 arcminutes square, and each pixel is 1.0 arcsecond.

About the Object	Object Name: 2003 VB16 ("Sedna") Object Type: Previously undetected Solar System body Position (J2000): RA: 3h15m10s Dec: +5d38m15s Current Distance: 8 billion miles Constellation (15 March 2004): Cetus
About the Data	Image Credit: NASA/Caltech/M. Brown Exposure Date: November 14, 2003 Image Scale: 3.4 x 3.4 arcmin Orientation: North is up Release Date: March 15, 2004
Observers:	Mike Brown (Caltech) Chad Trujillo (Gemini Observatory, Hawaii) David Rabinowitz (Yale University)

Individual Image

The image with text and callouts removed (for ease of layout for printing). Screen-Resolution (450x163): JPEG High-Resolution (2480x900): JPEG | Mac TIFF | PC TIFF Credit: NASA/Caltech/M. Brown

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