A group of amateur astronomists were the first to see our tenth planet Xena through conventional means – through a telescope.
The planet’s existence was first discovered in July 2005 by Caltech’s Mike Brown and colleagues. Officially called 2003 UB313, the planet lies 13.5 billion kilometers from the Earth and is about 5 million times dimmer than the North Star (Polaris).
What does the planet look like?
Louis Berman, a member of the St Louis Astronomical Society and the second observer, describes what he saw as “a very dim, point-like source that could only be seen through averted vision. If you looked straight at it, you’d never see it.”Another observer, Kevin Mace, says “It looked like a faint star. It’s not visually stunning.”
(Source: New Scientist Space)