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An international team of astronomers has confirmed that Farfarout, discovered in 2018, is the furthest known object in the Solar System and has been recognized and designated by the International Astronomical Union, NSF’s NOIRLab (National Laboratory for Research in Optical Astronomy – Infrared from NSF) reports ).
Farfarout was discovered with the Subaru Maunakea telescope in Hawaii, and while the discoverers knew it was indeed very far away, they weren’t sure of its exact distance.
“At the time, we didn’t know the object’s orbit, as we only had 24 hours of observations from the Subaru discovery, but it takes years of observations to determine an object’s orbit around the sun,” explains the fellow. discoverer. Scott Sheppard, of the Carnegie Institution for Science.
We only knew that the object seemed very distant at the time of discovery“, Explain.
To determine its orbit, Sheppard and his colleagues, David Tholen of the University of Hawaii and Chad Trujillo of Northern Arizona University, spent the next two years observing the object with the Gemini North telescope (also in Maunakea at Hawaii) and with the telescopes at Magallanes in Chile, from the Carnegie Institution for Science.
Based on these observations, Farfarout is located 132 astronomical units (au) from the sun, which is 132 times the distance from the sun to the earth (Pluto is 39 au from the sun).
Farfarout is even more distant than its predecessor in the solar system distance record discovered by the same team and nicknamed “Farout”, which is 124 au from the sun.
Farfarout’s orbit is elongated, taking it 175 au from the sun at its farthest point and nearly 27 au at its closest point, where Neptune’s orbit intersects, which is why astronomers believe that Farfarout could provide information about the history of the Sun. outer solar system.
Farfarout is very dim and, due to its brightness and distance from the sun, scientists believe it is about 400 kilometers wide, making it on the low side and considered a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union (AUI).
For now, Farfarout has been designated 2018 AG37 by the AUI Center for Minor Planets in Massachusetts. This object will be given an official name as more observations are collected and the track will become even more refined in the coming years.
Farfarout’s discoverers believe there are more distant objects to be discovered at the edge of the solar system, and their distance log may not be long.
EFE