Spitzer to Observe 2003UB313 Artist's Conception of 2003UB313,
NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC/Caltech) Later this month, the
Spitzer Space Telescope will look toward the recently-discovered
planet beyond Pluto, an object identified as 2003UB313. After
the new object was announced, the Spitzer team discovered that
the telescope's previous observations of the object were
unsuccessful because of an error in the parameters used to
target it. A successful Spitzer detection will determine the
object's size. If Spitzer does not see it, astronomers will be
able to place a solid upper limit on its size. The object was
discovered by Dr. Michael Brown of Caltech, along with Dr. Chad
Trujillo of Gemini Observatory in Hawaii, and Dr. David
Rabinowitz of Yale University in Connecticut.