The most distant known object in the Solar System is now confirmed. FarFarOut, a large chunk of rock found in 2018 at a whopping distance of around 132 astronomical units from the Sun, has been studied and characterised, and we now know a lot more about it, and its orbit.
Not to be confused with Farout.
quote:
"FarFarOut was likely thrown into the outer Solar System by getting too close to Neptune in the distant past," said astronomer Chad Trujillo of Northern Arizona University. "FarFarOut will likely interact with Neptune again in the future since their orbits still intersect."
The object's nickname evolved from the discovery of an earlier distant object in 2018.
Dwarf planet Farout has an average orbital distance of 124 astronomical units, and it was named after an exclamation made by astronomer Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science. When he and his team discovered an even farther object, the progression was obvious.
FarFarOut is still very mysterious, though. Because it's so far away, it's extremely faint, and has only been observed nine times over the course of two years. The team has inferred its size based on its brightness, but we don't know much else; it could be a very large irregular Kuiper Belt object, or it could meet the criteria to be classified as a dwarf planet.
-------------------------------- We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love… and then we return home. - Australian Aboriginal proverb
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