Astronomers discover the most distant Solar System object to date
Little by little, the furthest corners of the Solar System are starting to come into focus. Astronomers have identified the most distant object yet in our planetary system, roughly 15.5 billion kilometers (or 103 astronomical units) from the Sun. For comparison, one astronomical unit is the distance between the Earth and our enormous neighbourly star. Scott Sheppard, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science, announced the discovery of the dwarf planet -- catalogued as V774104 -- at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences. It was observed with Japan's Subaru Telescope (above) and measures 500 to 1,000 kilometers across. A fascinating find, although scientists will need to track it further to work out its exact shape and orbit.
[Image Credit: Dr. Hideaki Fujiwara - Subaru Telescope, NAOJ]
