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A Newly-Discovered (Almost) Dwarf Planet Will Come Surprisingly Close in 2031
The object, known as 2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein), was originally observed in 2014 but first noted on June 19th, 2021 by Pedro Bernardelli and Gary Bernstein, and now has its own Wikipedia page. The data on the object was collected by the Dark Energy Survey over the course of 4 years, but now new observing platforms are being brought to bear on this novel object.
With those additional observational platforms come additional insights. Right now, 2014 UN271 is expected to reach its perihelion just outside the orbit of Saturn [on January 23, 2031] before returning to the depths of the Oort cloud[*] for another spin around the sun. Its size is estimated to be between 100 and 370 km wide, making it possibly the biggest Oort cloud object ever observed.
Having already passed Neptune's orbit, 2014 UN271 is well on its journey into the inner solar system.
It has an orbital eccentricity of over 0.999, and an aphelion that could take it as far as 55,000 AU (0.9 light years) away from the Sun after 4.5 million years, although it could be disturbed by other objects and passing stars.
[*] Oort Cloud.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @12:31PM (4 children)
Why would tying a satellite to this comet be useful for parallax measurements?
It would be nice to build a probe to do a flyby when it's near perihelion, but I don't know if 9 or so years is enough time to develop a probe and send it there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @01:33PM (3 children)
I also doubt 9 years is enough.
I'm under the impression this orbit is fairly well tilted with respect to the orbits of the planets, so anything attached to it could be used for a different orientation. I guess "parallax" is not the correct word for it, but in principle the more cameras you have to observe a 3D field of randomly distributed objects, the better. And, for some reason, I'm under the impression something in orbit around an object is a bit safer than by itself. well... at 100-400 km diameter, the orbit won't be very hard to perturb...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 25 2021, @03:26PM (2 children)
It's probably not going to happen. But it really depends on exactly what it's doing. Just because it comes almost as close as Saturn doesn't mean it's almost as easy to reach as Saturn. Since the Oort Cloud is spherical, it could be (and probably is) in a highly inclined or retrograde orbit, which is much harder to reach.
It would be great to send a probe to this thing, but I suspect it's a little like the new interstellar objects that have started turning up - probably it's not unique at all, we only just started noticing.
We'll have to content ourselves with telescopes on this one.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Friday June 25 2021, @05:59PM (1 child)
You are correct, when this thing reaches the distance of Saturn's orbit, it will be way below the plane of the solar system.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @06:35AM
As an Australian, I would like to point out that it will be way above the plane of the solar system.