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New dwarf planet deemed most distant object in solar system
New dwarf planet deemed most distant object in solar system
Posted by: Schiavonne Robinson November 16, 2015
During the past week, scientists announced that a new dwarf planet has been discovered. It’s called V774104, and is about 15.4 billion kilometers from the Sun. It’s three times further from the Sun than Pluto at 103 AU, and is further than Eris at 97 AU. V774104’s discovery was announced by Scott Shepard, an astronomer from Carnegie Institution for Science, at the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences meeting. He, along with David Tholen and Chad Trujillo, found the celestial body with Japan’s 8-meter Subaru Telescope in Hawaii.
Joseph Burns, an astronomer from Cornell University, said, “The discovery of V774104 is more proof that the Solar System is bigger than we thought. We need a little more time to pin down the orbit and determine the object’s exact size, but it must be big to see it at this distance.” He wasn’t involved with the discovery.
V774104 is assumed to be between 500 and 1000 kilometers in diameter, less than half of the size of Pluto, which is interesting to astronomers who are looking for KBOs (Kuiper Belt Objects). But, what’s more interesting to them is analyzing its orbit, a feat that has yet been accomplished. If V774104’s orbit comes in closer proximity to the Sun (between 30 to 50), then it would be considered a Kuiper Belt object.
Another interest to Sheppard is what he calls inner Oort Cloud objects, or sednoids. These objects dwell in an area of the Solar System that astronomers assumed was fairly empty. Of the two that were examined in the past–2012 VP113 and Sedna–their orbits never came closer than 50 AU to the sun, and they have an axis greater than 150 AU. These unusual orbits as of now have no explanation.
Last week at the AAS meeting, Sheppard stated that the orbit of these objects might be the results of the Solar System’s primordial conditions, which formed over 4.5 billion years ago. He and his team finds this intriguing, and plans to study V774104 further.
New dwarf planet deemed most distant object in solar system
Posted by: Schiavonne Robinson November 16, 2015
During the past week, scientists announced that a new dwarf planet has been discovered. It’s called V774104, and is about 15.4 billion kilometers from the Sun. It’s three times further from the Sun than Pluto at 103 AU, and is further than Eris at 97 AU. V774104’s discovery was announced by Scott Shepard, an astronomer from Carnegie Institution for Science, at the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences meeting. He, along with David Tholen and Chad Trujillo, found the celestial body with Japan’s 8-meter Subaru Telescope in Hawaii.
Joseph Burns, an astronomer from Cornell University, said, “The discovery of V774104 is more proof that the Solar System is bigger than we thought. We need a little more time to pin down the orbit and determine the object’s exact size, but it must be big to see it at this distance.” He wasn’t involved with the discovery.
V774104 is assumed to be between 500 and 1000 kilometers in diameter, less than half of the size of Pluto, which is interesting to astronomers who are looking for KBOs (Kuiper Belt Objects). But, what’s more interesting to them is analyzing its orbit, a feat that has yet been accomplished. If V774104’s orbit comes in closer proximity to the Sun (between 30 to 50), then it would be considered a Kuiper Belt object.
Another interest to Sheppard is what he calls inner Oort Cloud objects, or sednoids. These objects dwell in an area of the Solar System that astronomers assumed was fairly empty. Of the two that were examined in the past–2012 VP113 and Sedna–their orbits never came closer than 50 AU to the sun, and they have an axis greater than 150 AU. These unusual orbits as of now have no explanation.
Last week at the AAS meeting, Sheppard stated that the orbit of these objects might be the results of the Solar System’s primordial conditions, which formed over 4.5 billion years ago. He and his team finds this intriguing, and plans to study V774104 further.
