Sedna spotlight

Big space news of the week was, of course, the discovery of the most distant object yet found in the solar system, a planetoid dubbed Sedna by those who found it.

There are lots of angles on this much-reported story. Here are a few that caught my eye:

• Sedna has been designated a planetoid. But should it be called a planet instead? The Daily Pantagraph, of Bloomington, Ill., delves into the question of just what's in a name.
• Whatever its planetary status, the St. Louis Post Dispatch says that Sedna's mere existence can teach us a lot about the solar system's early history and present workings.
• Also on the topic of names, BBC News Online explains just how they pick names for new planets (and planetoids) anyway -- and goes into detail on just why this one was selected. (And no, it's not official yet.)
• Some astronomers believe that Sedna's highly elliptic orbit -- which brings it anywhere from 76 AUs to 1,000 AUs from the sun -- may have been caused by the gravitational influence of an as-yet-undiscovered, Earth-size planet, Space.com reports.
• What do astrologers think about having a new celestial object to deal with? The Sun, from Britain, offers one perspective.