Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2014
Scientists announced on March 27th in Nature the discovery of an object named 2012 VP113 that is estimated to be 450km wide and with a perihelion of 80 astronomical units, and is likely a dwarf planet.
The object is thought to belong together with Sedna to a new category of objects in the solar system, that belongs to the inner Oort cloud.
The discovery of 2012 VP113 seems to also suggest the presence of another big planet! Scientists plotted the movements of Sedna, and other Kuiper belt objects, and their movement suggests that there might be something bigger lurking there, a possible super-Earth at around the distance of 250 astronomical units. The astronomers noted that an object like that would be too dim to have been seen with the all-sky surveys performed this far.
Whether or not there is such an object is yet unknown.
The object is thought to belong together with Sedna to a new category of objects in the solar system, that belongs to the inner Oort cloud.
The discovery of 2012 VP113 seems to also suggest the presence of another big planet! Scientists plotted the movements of Sedna, and other Kuiper belt objects, and their movement suggests that there might be something bigger lurking there, a possible super-Earth at around the distance of 250 astronomical units. The astronomers noted that an object like that would be too dim to have been seen with the all-sky surveys performed this far.
Whether or not there is such an object is yet unknown.
Labels: dwarf planet, news