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posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday July 26 2016, @03:26AM   Printer-friendly
from the company-for-the-planet-formerly-known-as-Pluto dept.

Two new Kuiper Belt objects have been discovered. Neither of them will approach closer than 50 AU to the Sun (Neptune is about 30 AU from the Sun):

The search for distant solar system objects has found two more small worlds far outside the orbit of Neptune. The new objects are located beyond the Kuiper Belt, which is a belt of small icy objects just beyond Neptune, of which Pluto is a member. Currently known as 2014 FZ71 and 2015 FJ345, they have the third and fourth most-distant perihelia, which is when an object has its closest approach distance to the Sun, of any known solar system objects.

In addition, the orbital motions of these objects are in resonance with Neptune's orbit, which was somewhat unexpected. Their orbital paths imply that these worlds either have interacted with Neptune in the past or are continuing to do so — despite their great distances from the ice giant planet.

BEYOND THE KUIPER BELT EDGE: NEW HIGH PERIHELION TRANS-NEPTUNIAN OBJECTS WITH MODERATE SEMIMAJOR AXES AND ECCENTRICITIES (DOI: 10.3847/2041-8205/825/1/L13)

List of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs)

Related: Newly Discovered Dwarf Planet Will be Closer Than Pluto By 2096


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 26 2016, @04:06AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 26 2016, @04:06AM (#380174)

    Do these far-out objects look more like a tuning fork or more like a cock and balls? Let's get some nerds on this problem and send shaft shaped probes to investigate. Of course the only cool guy trendy enough to spearhead this project is Egon Musky himself.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 26 2016, @08:52PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 26 2016, @08:52PM (#380438)

    I think somebody has inadequacy issues. :)