Editing Sedna (dwarf planet) (section)

== History ==

=== Discovery ===
Sedna ([[provisional designation|provisionally designated]] '''{{mp|2003 VB|12}}''') was discovered by Michael Brown ([[California Institute of Technology|Caltech]]), [[Chad Trujillo]] ([[Gemini Observatory]]), and [[David Rabinowitz]] ([[Yale University]]) on 14 November 2003. The discovery formed part of a survey begun in 2001 with the [[Samuel Oschin telescope]] at [[Palomar Observatory]] near [[San Diego, California|San Diego]], [[California]], using Yale's 160-megapixel [[Palomar Observatory#QUEST|Palomar Quest camera]]. On that day, an object was observed to move by 4.6 [[Minute of arc|arcseconds]] over 3.1 hours relative to stars, which indicated that its distance was about 100&nbsp;AU. Follow-up observations were made in November–December 2003 with the SMARTS (Small and Medium Research Telescope System) at [[Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory]] in [[Chile]], the Tenagra IV telescope in [[Nogales, Arizona]], and the [[Keck Observatory]] on [[Mauna Kea]] in Hawaii. Combined with [[precovery]] observations taken at the Samuel Oschin telescope in August 2003, and by the [[Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking]] consortium in 2001–2002, these observations allowed the accurate determination of its orbit. The calculations showed that the object was moving along a distant and highly [[orbital eccentricity|eccentric]] orbit, at a distance of 90.3 AU from the Sun.<ref name="2004-E45"/><ref name="Mike"/> Precovery images have since been found in the [[Digitized Sky Survey|Palomar Digitized Sky Survey]] dating back to 25 September 1990.<ref name="jpldata" />

=== Naming ===
Brown initially nicknamed Sedna "[[The Flying Dutchman]]", or "Dutch", after a legendary [[ghost ship]], because its slow movement had initially masked its presence from his team.<ref name="plutokiller">{{cite book |title=How I Killed Pluto And Why It Had It Coming |first=Michael E. | last=Brown |publisher=Spiegel & Grau |year=2012 |location=New York |isbn=978-0-385-53110-8 |page=96 |author-link=Michael E. Brown}}</ref> He eventually settled on the official name after the goddess [[Sedna (mythology)|Sedna]] from [[Inuit mythology]], partly because he mistakenly thought the Inuit were the closest polar culture to his home in [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]], and partly because the name, unlike [[Quaoar]], would be easily pronounceable by English speakers.<ref name="plutokiller"/> Brown further justified his choice of naming by stating that the goddess Sedna's traditional location at the bottom of the [[Arctic Ocean]] reflected Sedna's large distance from the Sun.<ref name="mikebrown"/> He suggested to the [[International Astronomical Union]]'s (IAU) [[Minor Planet Center]] that any objects discovered in Sedna's orbital region in the future should be named after mythical entities in Arctic mythologies.<ref name="mikebrown" />

The team made the name "Sedna" public before the object had been officially numbered, which caused some controversy among the community of amateur astronomers.<ref name="mpc">{{cite web|title=MPEC 2004-S73: Editorial Notice|publisher=IAU Minor Planet Center|url=https://minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K04/K04S73.html|year=2004|accessdate=18 July 2010|archive-date=8 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508090811/https://minorplanetcenter.net//mpec/K04/K04S73.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Brian G. Marsden|Brian Marsden]], the head of the Minor Planet Center, stated that such an action was a violation of protocol, and that some members of the IAU might vote against it.<ref name="Walker"/> One amateur astronomer, [[Reiner Stoss]], unsuccessfully attempted to name one of his asteroid discoveries "Sedna" (after the singer Katy Sedna) in protest of Brown's premature naming.<ref name="mpc"/><ref name="nyt">{{cite news|title=10 Planets? Why Not 11?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/23/science/space/10-planets-why-not-11.html|first=Kenneth|last=Chang|work=The New York Times|date=23 August 2005|accessdate=17 February 2025}}</ref><ref name="planetx">{{cite book|title=The Hunt for Planet X: New Worlds and the Fate of Pluto|url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-0-387-77805-1.pdf#page=210|first=Govert|last=Schilling|publisher=Springer|year=2009|accessdate=16 February 2025|isbn=978-0-387-77805-1|page=212| doi=10.1007/978-0-387-77805-1 }}</ref> Despite the complaints by amateur astronomers, no objection was raised to Brown's name by members of the IAU and no competing names were suggested for Brown's object.<ref name="mpc"/> The IAU's [[Committee on Small Body Nomenclature]] accepted the name in September 2004,<ref name="MPC_20040928"/> and considered that, in similar cases of extraordinary interest, it might in the future allow names to be announced before they were officially numbered.<ref name="mpc"/>

Sedna has no symbol in astronomical literature, as the usage of [[planetary symbol]]s is discouraged in astronomy. [[Unicode]] includes a symbol {{angbr|[[File:Sedna symbol (fixed width).svg|16px|⯲]]}} (U+2BF2),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2B00.pdf |title=Miscellaneous Symbols and Arrows |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=1991–2021 |website=unicode.org |publisher=Unicode |access-date=6 August 2022 |quote=2BF2 ⯲ SEDNA |archive-date=2 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802202914/https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2B00.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> but this is mostly used among [[astrologers]].<ref name=faulks>{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2016/16173-eris-sedna.pdf|title=Eris and Sedna Symbols|last=Faulks|first=David|date=12 June 2016|website=unicode.org|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170508160706/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2016/16173-eris-sedna.pdf|archive-date=8 May 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> The symbol is a monogram of {{langx|iu|ᓴᓐᓇ}} ''Sanna'', the modern pronunciation of Sedna's name.<ref name=faulks/>