A composite image that illustrates the relative sizes of known dwarf planets in our solar system, including the newly discovered planet OF201 in 2017 (Image credit: Sihao Cheng et al.)
Researchers have found evidence of a previously unknown dwarf planet at the edge of the solar system.
The object, called 2017 OF201, moves in a highly eccentric orbit, completing one orbit around the Sun every roughly 25,000 years on Earth. The results, confirmed by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center but not yet peer-reviewed, were published May 21 on the preprint platform arXiv.
2017 OF201 is a roughly spherical body with a diameter of about 435 miles (700 kilometers) hidden beyond the orbit of Neptune. A team of scientists discovered it by analyzing archival data from the Blanco Telescope in Chile and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii. The researchers tracked the object's motion through 19 sets of images spanning seven years.
You may like
Sourse: www.livescience.com
