It was just last workweek that we reported ona antecedently unexplored nanus planetlocated in the interior Oort Cloud . Now , astronomers have detected two more previously unobserved celestial bodies , including one that could be as much as 932 mile ( 1,500 km ) in diameter .
Meet our fresh neighbour , VP113
NASA / JPL Small - soundbox Database browser app .
FY27 is now the ninth brightest known physical object ( a 3.0 magnitude ) beyond Neptune ( after Eris , Pluto , Makemake , Haumea , Sedna , 2007 OR10 , Orcus , and Quaoar , in that order ) . Its size , which could be anywhere from 472 to 932 mile ( 760 to 1,500 km ) , qualifies it as a gnome , or small , satellite ( the best estimation the right way now is an physical object about 620 miles ( 1,000 klick ) in diameter ) . FY27 is presently about 80 AU from the sun , like to VP113 ’s current aloofness .
Emily Lakdawalla from the Planetary Societyexplains the difference between FY27 and VP113 :
Remember , what made VP113 strange was n’t its current distance from the Sun ; it was the shape of VP113 ’s orbit and the fact that it never gets closer than about 80 AU from the Sun . A caboodle of multitude are getting disconcert about this , describe VP113 as the most remote physical object in the solar system . It is n’t ; Eris is farther away , and so is Sedna , and so are both Voyagers , and so are bed long - period comets ( though we ca n’t currently observe those ) . Both VP113 and FY27 are currently about 80 AU from the Sun , but unlike VP113 , the new FY27 is near its aphelion , almost as far away as it ever gets . Over sentence , FY27 ’s celestial orbit will bring it much closer , to Neptune ’s neighborhood . As such , while it ’s an remarkably remote aim among the things we currently know about , its orbit does n’t stretch the boundaries of our solar system the way VP113 did . Here ’s a prospect comparing VP113 , FY27 , the planets , Pluto , and Eris . FY27 ’s orbit is not like Sedna ’s ; it ’s more Eris - like .
What makes FY27 especial , to me , is its smartness , and entail size of it . It is almost certainly a orotund world , and it ’s a member of a size reach of Kuiper belt objects that have really diverse surfaces , implying that each of these worldly concern has a unequalled narration to tell , magnetic declination on themes of chicken feed and organic muck and fugacious atmospheres . ( Read an article I wrote about Salacia for more about that . ) I contacted Scott Sheppard to see if he could tell me anything more about it that was n’t in the MPEC , but there is n’t a muckle of information on FY27 ’s nature yet . They do n’t know its color . Still : it ’s a newfangled round world ; it ’s not every day we sum up another one of those to our solar arrangement .
There ’s much more to Emily ’s consultation with Scott , so be sure to check it out .
As for the other nominate minor planet , FZ27 , it ’s about 50 AU from the Lord’s Day on the far border of the Kuiper belt . It evaluate about 372 geographical mile ( 600 km ) wide , thus measure up it for nanus condition ( criteria for dwarf planet status can be foundhere ) .
[ Planetary Society|New Scientist ]
Top range : Artistic printing of Sedna viaNASA .
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