The observable limits of the solar system just stretched even further.
The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center on Monday announced the discovery of a dwarf planet, 2018 VG18, located 120 astronomical units from the sun, reports CNN. It's the most distant object ever observed in the solar system so far, beating out Eris, the dwarf planet located 96 astronomical units away from the sun that previously held that distinction. One astronomical unit translates into 93 million miles, i.e. the distance between the Earth and the sun, and Pluto is located at 34 astronomical units.
The dwarf planet, which scientists are appropriately nicknaming "Farout," is described as round and pinkish, with a diameter of about 311 miles. Researchers believe it may have an ice-rich body based on the color.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This discovery came as part of a team of astronomers' search for distant objects in the solar system, including the possibility of a ninth planet, per Carnegie Science. They say that it will "take a few years" to determine the orbit of this dwarf planet, but they believe it likely takes it more than 1,000 years to take a single trip around the sun.
-
How Mike Johnson is rendering the House ‘irrelevant’Talking Points Speaker has put the House on indefinite hiatus
-
Lazarus: Harlan Coben’s ‘embarrassingly compelling’ thrillerThe Week Recommends Bill Nighy and Sam Claflin play father-and-son psychiatrists in this ‘precision-engineered’ crime drama
-
Dutch center-left rises in election as far-right fallsSpeed Read The country’s other parties have ruled against forming a coalition
-
Dinosaurs were thriving before asteroid, study findsSpeed Read The dinosaurs would not have gone extinct if not for the asteroid
-
SpaceX breaks Starship losing streak in 10th testspeed read The Starship rocket's test flight was largely successful, deploying eight dummy satellites during its hour in space
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-offSpeed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet underseaSpeed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
New York plans first nuclear plant in 36 yearsSpeed Read The plant, to be constructed somewhere in upstate New York, will produce enough energy to power a million homes
-
Dehorning rhinos sharply cuts poaching, study findsSpeed Read The painless procedure may be an effective way to reduce the widespread poaching of rhinoceroses
