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Dwarf planet discovery hints at a hidden Super Earth in solar system
2012 vp113. – Largest Known Perihelion Object Discovered within our Solar System – 2012 vp113..
Astronomers have increased the size of the observable solar system after spotting a 450-km wide object orbiting the sun.
The lump of ice and rock circles the sun at a greater distance than any known object, and never gets closer than 12bn kilometres — 80 times the distance from Earth to the sun.
If its size is confirmed it could qualify as a dwarf planet in the same category as Pluto. Researchers said the discovery proves the existence of the inner Oort cloud, a region of icy bodies that lies far beyond the orbit of Neptune — which at 4.5bn kilometres from the sun is the most remote planet in the solar system.
Until a proper name is decided upon, the body is known only as 2012 VP113. According to the science journal Nature, the team that discovered it call it VP for short, or “Biden”, after US vice president Joe Biden.
Its pink tinge comes from radiation damage that alters the make-up of frozen water, methane and carbon dioxide on the surface.
Though exciting in its own right, the discovery raises a more tantalising prospect for many astronomers: that a “Super Earth” up to 10 times the mass of our planet orbits the sun at such a great distance that it has never been seen.
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