Meet ‘Ammonite' — A New World Just Found In The Solar System
An object has been discovered orbiting the sun far beyond Pluto, calling into question theories about a possible Planet Nine in the solar system.
The object, for now, designated 2023 KQ14 and nicknamed "Ammonite," was found by astronomers in Japan using its Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. Announced in a paper published today in Nature Astronomy, the object is not a planet but a sednoid. It's only the fourth sednoid ever discovered.
Ammonite 2023 KQ14: What is A Sednoid?
A sednoid is an object beyond the orbit of Neptune that has a highly eccentric orbit, similar to that of the dwarf planet Sedna, one of the most distant objects in the solar system known to astronomers.
Astronomers use the distance between the Earth and the sun — one astronomical unit or au — to measure distance in the solar system. Sedna gets as close to the sun as about 76 au but as far away as 900 au on its elliptical orbit. 2023 KQ14 gets as close as 66 au from the sun and as far away as 252 au.
The orbit of 2023 KQ14 (in red) compared to the orbits of the other three sednoids (in white). 2023 ... More KQ14was discovered near its perihelion at a distance of 71 astronomical units (71 times the average distance between the Sun and Earth). The yellow point indicates its current position.
2023 KQ14 And The 'Planet Nine' Hypothesis
There has been a lot of attention among astronomers on Planet Nine in recent months. In May, scientists in Taiwan looking for a ninth planet in the solar system found hints in archive images. In June, a study by Rice University and the Planetary Science Institute put a number on the chances that a ninth planet exists — 40%.
The reason a ninth planet may exist is an unusual clustering of minor bodies in the Kuiper Belt — the outer solar system. Six objects — Sedna, 2012 VP113, 2004 VN112, 2010 GB174, 2013 RF98 and 2007 TG422 — all have highly elongated yet similarly oriented orbits. They appear to have been "herded" by the gravitational influence of a planet.
At a distance of over 8 billion miles (13 billion kilometres), Sedna is so far away it is reduced to ... More one picture element (pixel) in this image taken in high-resolution mode with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Why 2023 KQ14 Might 'Kill' Planet Nine
The discovery of 2023 KQ14 may dent that theory because it follows an orbit different from the other sednoids. 'The fact that 2023 KQ14's current orbit does not align with those of the other three sednoids lowers the likelihood of the Planet Nine hypothesis," said Dr. Yukun Huang of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, who conducted simulations of the orbit in a press release. "It is possible that a planet once existed in the Solar System but was later ejected, causing the unusual orbits we see today.' If a "Planet Nine" does exist, it likely orbits even farther from the sun than supposed.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
NASA says a plane-sized asteroid will pass Earth next week. Here's what to know.
A plane-sized asteroid scheduled to pass Earth next week is making headlines, but NASA experts want the public to understand why this encounter is more routine than remarkable. The asteroid is named 2025 OW and measures approximately 210 feet in length, according to NASA. It is set to pass Earth on July 28 at a distance of approximately 393,000 miles -- about 1.6 times the average distance to the Moon, according to the space agency. While it's traveling at an impressive speed of 46,908 miles per hour, NASA scientists emphasize this is normal and nothing to lose sleep over. "This is very routine," Ian J. O'Neill, media relations specialist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), told ABC News. "If there was a threat, you would hear from us. We would always put out alerts on our planetary defense blog." MORE: Axiom private space mission could be glimpse of the future as ISS retirement looms Davide Farnocchia, an asteroid expert at NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), explains that space rocks passing by Earth are just business as usual in our solar system. "Close approaches happen all the time -- it's just part of the fabric of the solar system," Farnocchia told ABC News. His team usually tracks several asteroids passing Earth each week -- as of Tuesday, they're watching five for next week alone. While 2025 OW is large enough to be of interest to NASA scientists, its well-understood orbit means it poses no danger. "We know exactly where it's going to be. We'll probably know where it's going to be for the next 100 years," O'Neill said. MORE: Chance of asteroid striking Earth in the next decade rises to 3.1%, NASA says For space enthusiasts hoping to catch a glimpse of 2025 OW, Farnocchia indicates it won't be visible with binoculars. However, he points to a more exciting upcoming event: the 2029 approach of asteroid Apophis. "Apophis will come within 38,000 kilometers of Earth in April 2029 -- closer than our geostationary satellites," Farnocchia said. Approximately 1,115 feet in length, and due to its exceptionally close approach, Apophis will be visible to the naked eye, offering a rare opportunity for public observation of an asteroid. Both Farnocchia and O'Neill emphasize that while Earth is struck by roughly 100 tons of space material daily, most of this is harmless dust. Larger, potentially hazardous impacts are extremely rare. "For an object the size of 2025 OW, while close approaches might happen yearly, an actual Earth impact would only occur roughly every 10,000 years," Farnocchia notes. NASA continues to monitor near-Earth objects through its planetary defense programs, maintaining public transparency about any potential risks while emphasizing that most asteroid headlines are more sensational than concerning.
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Yahoo
Earth's rotation is speeding up for 2 more days this summer — including today
Technically speaking, these days will be shorter. Planet Earth is spinning a little faster today — and will spin a little faster one day next month, too. This will technically result in shorter days, but the change will be so minuscule you won't even notice. Several milliseconds will be shaved off of the 24 hours it takes for Earth to complete a full rotation — we're talking even less time than the blink of an eye. Why is Earth's rotation speed changing? Planet Earth is our timekeeper, but it's not perfect. It takes our planet 24 hours — one day — to complete one full rotation on its axis, which breaks down to 86,400 seconds. But Earth's rotation could change by a millisecond (.001 seconds) or two every day. The orbit of the moon can have an effect on how fast the Earth spins around. 'Our planet spins quicker when the moon's position is far to the north or south of Earth's equator,' according to 'Earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal forces, subterranean geology, and many other mechanisms can cause the planet's rotation to slow down or speed up, and those micro-adjustments can trend over time,' Popular Mechanics reported. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan in 2011 accelerated Earth's rotation, shortening the length of the standard 24-hour day by 1.8 microseconds (0.0018 milliseconds). These tiny day-to-day fluctuations in the Earth's spin speed began to be measured in the 1950s with atomic clocks. Any number above or below the standard 86,400 seconds is called the length of day (LOD). The shortest day recorded was on July 5, 2024, when Earth completed its full rotation 1.66 milliseconds faster than the standard 86,400 seconds. When will this happen? There are a total of three days this summer when the moon will be around its furthest distance from Earth's equator, resulting in a minuscule increase in the Earth's spin speed. One of them occurred on July 9, when the day was shortened by nearly 1.4 milliseconds. The remaining two days are predictions from scientists: July 22: Earth loses 1.38 milliseconds of the day Aug. 5: The day is shortened by 1.51 milliseconds Wait — isn't there another day that's considered the shortest of the year? What feels like the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere is known as the winter solstice, when Earth is tilted away from the sun at its maximum. This results in the fewest amount of daylight hours all year and occurs in mid-December. Will Earth always have 24 hours in a day? There weren't always 24 hours in a day. Researchers believe that in the Jurassic Period, it took Earth just 23 hours to make a complete rotation around its axis. Scientists have found that the length of a day on Earth is increasing each century by about 1.7 milliseconds. Over time, that adds up. Experts think that 200 million years from now, there will be 25 hours in a full day. Solve the daily Crossword
Gizmodo
a day ago
- Gizmodo
The ‘Hail Mary' That Saved NASA's Juno Camera From Jupiter's Radiation Hell
NASA's Juno spacecraft, which launched in 2011 to investigate Jupiter's origin and evolution, travels through the solar system's most intense planetary radiation fields. When the spacecraft's JunoCam—a color, visible-light camera—began to suffer the consequences in December 2023, the mission team back on Earth had to think of a remote fix before they lost their chance to photograph the Jovian moon, Io. A relatively simple process was ultimately what enabled the long-distance save: heating the instrument before slowly cooling it down (I trust they tried turning it off and on again). The experience has provided insightful lessons on spacecraft radiation tolerance for mission scientists beyond the Juno team, according to a Jet Propulsion Laboratory statement published yesterday. Scientists estimated that JunoCam, whose optical unit is located outside of a protective radiation vault, could resist radiation for the spacecraft's first eight orbits around Jupiter. It wasn't until Juno's 47th orbit, however, that the scientists began to observe radiation damage. The team identified evidence suggesting that the radiation had damaged the voltage regulator, which is crucial to JunoCam's power supply. From hundreds of millions of miles away, their options were limited. As such, they decided to try a lesser-known process called annealing, which consists of heating a material for a given amount of time to reduce its defects before slowly cooling it down. 'We knew annealing can sometimes alter a material like silicon at a microscopic level but didn't know if this would fix the damage,' Jacob Schaffner, a JunoCam imaging engineer from Malin Space Science Systems, said in the statement. 'We commanded JunoCam's one heater to raise the camera's temperature to 77 degrees Fahrenheit [25 degrees Celsius]—much warmer than typical for JunoCam—and waited with bated breath to see the results.' While their approach successfully enabled JunoCam to capture clear photographs for several orbits, the spacecraft continued to barrel into Jupiter's radiation fields, and the damage was soon apparent again. 'After orbit 55, our images were full of streaks and noise,' explained JunoCam instrument lead Michael Ravine, also from Malin Space Science Systems. 'We tried different schemes for processing the images to improve the quality, but nothing worked. With the close encounter of Io bearing down on us in a few weeks, it was Hail Mary time: The only thing left we hadn't tried was to crank JunoCam's heater all the way up and see if more extreme annealing would save us.' At first, the more extreme annealing didn't seem to produce any improvements, but as the Io approach got nearer, and with just days to go, the images suddenly improved significantly. On December 30, 2023, JunoCam successfully captured detailed photographs of Io's north polar region, including previously undocumented volcanoes. Scientists presented the accomplishment at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Nuclear & Space Radiation Effects Conference in Nashville on July 16. Jupiter's 'Tortured Moon': Astronomers Uncover Surprising Source of Io's Intense Volcanic Fury Despite the fact that the image corruption returned during its recent 74th orbit, 'Juno is teaching us how to create and maintain spacecraft tolerant to radiation, providing insights that will benefit satellites in orbit around Earth,' explained Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute. 'I expect the lessons learned from Juno will be applicable to both defense and commercial satellites as well as other NASA missions.'
