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Economic Times
24-05-2025
- Science
- Economic Times
2017 OF201: All about the new planet found beyond Pluto
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Scientists have identified a new minor planet beyond Pluto , enhancing our knowledge of the solar system 's outer boundaries. The celestial body, designated as 2017 OF201 , ranks among the largest distant objects ever detected, providing fresh insights into the Kuiper Belt and the remote regions of our planetary International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center officially recognised 2017 OF201 after its detection in archived telescope data. The object's remarkable characteristics include its substantial size and distinctive orbital path. Its estimated diameter ranges from 470 to 820 kilometres (approximately 290 to 510 miles), placing it amongst known dwarf planets and substantial asteroids like highly eccentric orbit varies between 45 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun - approximately 45 times Earth's distance from the Sun - to a remarkable 838 AU at its apex. For context, Neptune orbits at about 30 AU. This extensive elliptical trajectory classifies 2017 OF201 as an extreme trans-Neptunian object (ETNO), belonging to a category of bodies residing in the solar system's furthest Kuiper Belt, home to Pluto and other frozen bodies, remains an enigmatic region containing remnants from the solar system's formation over 4.5 billion years ago. The discovery of 2017 OF201 assists astronomers in understanding the origin, evolution, and formation of these objects, providing data about the solar system's early discovery of 2017 OF201 contributes to ongoing investigations regarding a potential ninth planet beyond Neptune. The theoretical "Planet Nine" would exert gravitational influence over several ETNOs' orbits. While 2017 OF201's trajectory doesn't precisely align with Planet Nine predictions, each newly discovered outer solar system object provides crucial data for refining astronomical models and the Planet Nine theory, studying distant objects like 2017 OF201 enhances understanding of the solar system's outer structure and mechanics. These objects serve as preserved evidence of planetary movements, impacts, and other historical facilities like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will accelerate the identification of distant solar system objects, improving our understanding of these remote areas. Current research continues to illuminate the solar system's boundaries and the principles governing our cosmic 2017 OF201 represents a significant discovery among trans-Neptunian objects. It addresses current knowledge gaps while extending our understanding of the solar system's reach, establishing foundations for future astronomical research.
Gizmodo
22-05-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
New Minor Planet Spotted Past Pluto, One of the Largest Distant Objects in the Solar System
There's a new frozen oddball orbiting the Sun, and it's not your average space rock. It's a planet—a minor one, to be fair—but one of the largest yet discovered and with an orbit around the Sun that puts our own planet's orbit to shame. The minor world is dubbed 2017 OF201; the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center added the object to its catalog on May 21. Despite its classification, the planet measures somewhere between 290 and 510 miles (470 and 820 kilometers) across. Its upper size limit would put the minor planet in the same wheelhouse as Ceres, the largest asteroid in the belt between Mars and Jupiter, boasting a diameter of about 592 miles (952 km). Astronomers first spotted 2017 OF201 in archival images, but only now is the object officially recognized as a trans-Neptunian object, or TNO. TNOs are bodies in the solar system that orbit the Sun beyond Neptune, which is 30 times more distant from the Sun than the Earth. But 2017 OF201 is superlative even among the distant TNOs; its orbit takes it as far as 838 astronomical units from the Sun—making it nearly 30 times farther than Neptune, which again, is itself 30 times farther from the Sun than Earth is, on average. At its closest, as reported by EarthSky, 2017 OF201 comes within 45 AU of the Sun. That remarkable orbit earns the minor planet the label of an extreme trans-Neptunian object (ETNO), a subset of distant rocks that fuel theories about mysterious gravitational forces at play in the far reaches of the solar system. Which brings us, inevitably, to Planet Nine, the theorized distant world posited as a gravitational explanation for the strange clustering of objects in the Kuiper Belt. Other ideas have been floated to explain the phenomenon—such as a ring of debris exerting gravitational influence, or even a primordial black hole—but nothing grips our human fascination like a distant planet, so far away from our solar system's other worlds that it's never been observed. Planet Nine, if it exists, would have to be a little over six times Earth's mass, with an orbital period of about 7,400 years. The newly cataloged minor planet is big, but not Planet Nine big. Still, discoveries like this keep astronomers buzzing. Just last month, a different team of astronomers found a different slow-moving object beyond Neptune—a would-be Planet Nine candidate, but it's in the wrong place. Objects like those recently reported add to the growing list of bodies that might eventually help pinpoint the elusive Planet Nine—or at least explain the strange movement of objects on the periphery of our solar neighborhood. 2017 OF201 isn't the planetary heavyweight many have been waiting for, but it's a reminder that the solar system is still full of surprises—especially in its frigid, hard-to-see suburbs.
