Researchers have successfully detected the most far-flung object in our Solar System. It is a cold world that lies far from us – 103. This surpasses the record previously held by Eris the dwarf planet, which was discovered in 2005, three times farther from the Sun than Earth. Scott Sheppard (an astronomer from the Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington DC) reported that the object had been discovered on 10thNovember. At the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences meeting, National Harbor (Maryland), he reported on his discovery. This distant object is located beyond the Kuiper belt edge, which extends from Neptune’s orbit (at 30AU) to approximately 50AU from the Sun. (1 AU = 1 Earth-to-Sun distance). Scientists will be fascinated if distant objects orbit within the Oort cloud all of the time. It is within the Oort cloud, the next part of the solar system which stretches to a distance of 100,000 AU. It is likely to remain unaffected for many billions of year. The object’s distant location suggests that it may be important to scientists on Earth. The orbits of objects in the primordial realm are those that were unaffected for many billions of years. The orbit of this object is not known by astronomers. The object could move closer to the Sun then its current 103AU. It might not move closer to the Sun, which would increase interest among astronomers. Nature News quotes Michael Brown, a California Institute of Technology planetary scientist in Pasadena who says “There’s not reason to be excited yet”. This rare insight gives us an inside look at our Solar System’s outer edges. Only two known worlds exist in the Oort cloud’s inner Oort: one called 2012VP, which was nicknamed “Biden” by Sheppard Trujillo and Chadwick Trujillo of Hilo’s Gemini Observatory, Hawaii. The other is Sedna. Brown and his colleagues discovered it. 2012VP is never closer to the Sun than 80AU, while Sedna’s nearest approach is 76. The new object 103AU will be the closest to the Sun, and the two scientists living in the Oort cloud’s inner Oort clouds will become three. However, if it approaches our Sun at 50, then it will join the Kuiper Belt as many other mundane Kuiper residents. Their orbits are especially elliptical due to Neptune’s gravitational force. Sheppard says that far-away objects are more fascinating to scientists because they’re too far away from Neptune and therefore cannot be influenced by its gravitational pull. They are likely to reflect the original conditions that created the Solar System over 4.5 billion year ago. This makes them more intriguing for astronomers. Trujillo, Sheppard and the Subaru Telescope (an 8.2-meter flagship telescope of Japan’s National Astronomical Observatory) discovered the object. It is located at Hawaii’s Mauna Kea Observatory. The body measures between 500 and 800 km. They plan to search for it again next week using Magellan Telescopes (two 6.5-meter diameter optical telescopes) located at Las Campana Observatory, Chile. They hope to determine its orbit within the next year and discover if it is an Oort cloud permanent resident. Citation: “Astronomers spy most distant Solar System object ever,” Alexandra Witze. Nature. 10 November 2015. DOI: 10.1038/nature.2015. 18770.
