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posted by martyb on Monday September 25 2017, @03:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the synchronicity dept.

Astronomers have found a probable dwarf planet beyond Neptune using data from the Pan-STARRS Outer Solar System Survey. The trans-Neptunian object's perihelion is 39.32 AU. Although 2010 JO179 is a relatively bright (and red) object, it was not discovered earlier due to its high 32° orbital inclination and 30° ecliptic latitude.

Astronomers think they might have found a new dwarf planet beyond the orbit of Neptune. It's about a quarter of the size of Pluto and may be one of thousands of objects awaiting discovery at the edge of our Solar System.

Tentatively named 2010 JO179, it was found using the Pan-STARRS Outer Solar System Survey by a team led by Matthew Holman from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A paper describing the findings is available on arXiv.

From measuring the brightness of the object, the team believes it's about 600 to 900 kilometers (370 to 560 miles) across. For scale, Pluto is 2,370 kilometers (1,473 miles) wide.

The potential dwarf planet [has a semi-major axis] of 78.3 AU (astronomical units – 1 AU is the Earth-Sun distance), beyond the Kuiper Belt. There's an extremely small margin of error in this estimation. It is known as a trans-Neptunian object (TNO). For comparison, Neptune is 30.5 AU on average and Pluto is 39.5 AU.

For every 21 orbits Neptune makes around the Sun, 2010 JO179 makes 5.

[Wikipedia helpfully informs us that Neptune "orbits the Sun once every 164.8 years at an average distance of 30.1 astronomical units." So, these planets synch up every 3460 years or so. --Ed.]


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  • (Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Monday September 25 2017, @06:15PM

    by Osamabobama (5842) on Monday September 25 2017, @06:15PM (#572733)

    Perhaps it should be "ecliptically challenged?"

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