http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article302931.ece
"Spotted beyond Pluto, the tenth rock from the Sun.

It is a tiny white dot even in the most powerful telescopes, but a dot that moves, albeit slowly, against the background of distant stars.

That means it must be a planet, so now object 2003UB313, spotted two years ago by astronomers in California, has been officially identified as the 10th planet in the solar system, and tentatively christened Xena. The body is believed to be about 1,700 miles in diameter, about a quarter the size of the Earth"

Xena? The warrior princess planet?

Makes no sense since 355 Gabrielle is a main-belt asteroid.

I saw the topic of this thread and Immediately thought it had something to do with that god-awful TV series involving Lucy Lawless. phew thank christ it's not.

I thought it was Xena: Warrior Princess.

I hated that show...

I liked the show, but naming a planet after her? An asteroid would be okay. I hope they change it soon.

Didn't they name a new planet after some god a few months ago? I think it started with the letter s or something. Has it been renamed or is this a new planet and the former is not considered a planet anymore?

Sylvia is an asteroid in the Asteroids Belt. It has two asteroid-moons, Romulus and Remus. Sylvia was named after Rhea Sylvia, the mythical mother of the founders of Rome.
http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1681

As for "Xena", she has no official name yet but "2003 UB313". It's up to the International Astronomical Union to decide her final name. Currently, the IAU has a group working on the definition of "planet". Once the group has a definition, it will be able to classify 2003 UB313 as a planet or not. Until then, the object will not be given an official name.
August 13, 2005
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/Stories/0,1413,206~22097~3009692,00.html

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=17942
Xena has a moon named Gabrielle