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New Dwarf Planet is Most Distant Object Yet Observed in our Solar System
A newly found object named V774104 was found using the Subaru Telescope. Credit: Scott Sheppard, Chad Trujillo, and David Tholen.
It has been estimated that there may be hundreds of dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt and Oort Cloud of the outer Solar System. So far we’ve found – and actually seen – just a few. This past week, one more dwarf planet was added to the list and comes in at the most distant object ever seen in the Solar System.
This newly found world, initially named V774104, is about 15.4 billion kilometers from the Sun. At 103 AU, it is three times further from the Sun than Pluto, and is more distant than the previous record holder, Eris, which lies at 97 AU.
The discovery of V774104 was announced by one of the astronomers who found the object, Scott Sheppard, from the Carnegie Institution for Science, at the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences fall meeting last week. Sheppard, along with Chad Trujillo and David Tholen used Japan’s 8-meter Subaru Telescope in Hawaii to make the find.
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Read the rest of New Dwarf Planet is Most Distant Object Yet Observed in our Solar System (610 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2015. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: 2012 VP113, dwarf planet, Sedna, Solar System, V774104
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Source: http://www.universetoday.com/123397/new-dwarf-planet-is-most-distant-object-yet-observed-in-our-solar-system/
