What's in the News: Solitary Sedna

What's in the News: Solitary Sedna

By Kathleen O'Toole
WPSX-TV/Penn State Public Broadcasting

Its official name is 2003 VB12, but the popular name, Sedna, is far more fitting for the recently discovered object at the far fringes of our solar system.

Depending on one's definition of a planet, Sedna is either the long-sought 10th planet or a Kuiper Belt object -- one of more than 400 icy celestial bodies that lie at the very edge of the solar system.

What's not in dispute is that Sedna is the coldest, most distant object ever seen. The goddess for whom Sedna is named could surely relate.

Throughout the Inuit nation of the Arctic, the legend of Sedna varies in its details from one area to the next. But the basic storyline goes something like this:

Once upon a time, a beautiful Inuit woman named Sedna lived happily with her parents in the Arctic region of northern Canada. Many Inuit hunters wanted to marry her, but she turned them all down. Then one day, an extraordinary Inuit came to ask for Sedna's hand in marriage. Although his face was hidden, he was clothed in rich furs. He promised to provide Sedna with plenty of food, clothes and blankets, and a warm home that would shield her from the frigid winds from the North Pole. Sedna agreed to marry him.

After arriving at her new island home, Sedna saw her husband for the first time. When he removed his furs, she screamed at the sight of him. He had disguised himself as an Inuit hunter, but he was actually a sea bird.

Sedna's cries of grief were carried on the Arctic winds to her father. He set out in his kayak and rescued his daughter. On their return home, however, the birdman came searching for them. The violent flapping of his wings caused a great storm to arise. Sedna's fearful father threw her overboard to appease the bird, but Sedna clung to the sides of the kayak. The cowardly father beat his paddle against his daughter's fingers until they fell off her hands. As they drifted to the bottom of the sea they became fish, seals, walruses and whales. Sedna also drifted to the bottom where she became a powerful sea goddess in the form of a mermaid.

Even today, the Inuit try to keep Sedna happy so that she will allow her companions -- the seals and the fish -- to make themselves available to human hunters. If hunters don't catch anything for a long time, the Inuit send an elder into the ocean to comb and braid Sedna's hair as a way of appeasing her and insuring a good hunt.

Last month, astronomers peered through the Hubble Space Telescope in search of the celestial Sedna's companion. But they failed to find the moon they had expected to see in orbit around the heavenly body.

This week, "What's in the News" takes a look at the mystery of Sedna and other current events.

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"What's in the News," a current events program for 4th through 7th grade Social Studies classes, airs at noon and 5 p.m. Fridays and 10 a.m. Sundays on WPSX-TV (check local listings for air times in your area). Kathleen O'Toole writes and co-hosts the series, which is produced by WPSX-TV/Penn State Public Broadcasting in cooperation with Penn State's College of Education. The series is endorsed by the National Council for the Social Studies. For more information, visit http://www.witn.psu.edu