Although Pluto was downgraded to the state of a dwarf planet in 2006, scientists never ceased to look for the ninth planet of our Solar System. There are even some moons bigger than Pluto, so it would be naive to believe that there’s no room for a ninth planet that revolves around our Sun. However, that search will have to continue, as this article is about another space object.
Live Science announces that astronomers discovered the most distant object from the Solar System, and it revolves around the Sun at a staggering distance.
Meet Farfarout
Farfarout is now recognized as the most distant object from the Solar System, and it orbits way beyond Pluto. The newfound object qualifies as a dwarf planet, and a pretty small one as well – it measures only 25 miles wide, meaning about the length of four football fields. Farfarout has an orbit that’s about 132 times the distance that separates Earth and the Sun.
David Tholen, a co-discoverer of Farfarout and an astronomer at the University of Hawaii, reveals even more staggering facts about Farfarout:
A single orbit of Farfarout around the Sun takes a millennium,
Because of this long orbital, it moves very slowly across the sky, requiring several years of observations to precisely determine its trajectory.
Farfarout was discovered in January 2018 using the Subaru Telescope from Hawai’i, and the dwarf planet’s pattern around the Sun creates a long ellipse. At its closest approach, Farfarout is located at only 24 AU from the Sun, meaning even closer than Pluto and Neptune. But at its farthest position, the dwarf planet dives all the way to 175 AU from the Sun.
Although the hunt for Planet 9 continues, we must not rule out completely the possibility of Pluto being considered a planet again someday. Jim Bridenstine, the former NASA Administrator, is one of the most passionate supporters of the idea of Pluto being a planet.
