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Not long ago, astronomers detected the presence of what was then considered the farthest object of our solar system. The object, called 2018 VG18, was dubbed "FarOut" by researchers who discovered it.
Unfortunately, the purpose of naming objects in space is that eventually someone will find a larger, faster, or, in this case, more distant than the previous record holder. This is exactly what happened to FarOut, which is now the second farthest object in the system, and the new record holder also needed a catchy nickname. His name is FarFarOut.
FarFarOut's discovery was made by Scott Sheppard, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science. Sheppard is part of a team looking for the mysterious "missing" planet at the edge of our solar system called Planet X, but the data collected by his team finally revealed the existence of anything from everything to is different.
Sheppard presented his discovery during a live conference session, naming the FarFarOut object because of its significant remoteness from the Sun compared to FarOut. It is thought that the latter is about 120 astronomical units (1 AU = the distance between the Sun and the Earth), while FarFarOut is estimated at about 140 AU from the Sun.
As Sheppard explained to CNNan additional observation will be necessary to conclusively determine how far away is the object of the Sun.
"We must again observe the object to confirm that it is far away there," Sheppard said. CNN. "At the present time, we have only seen Farfarout for a 24-hour time base. These discovery observations show that Farfarout is around 140 AU, but could also be between 130 and 150 AU. "
Objects such as FarOut and now FarFarOut often remain hidden due to their distance from the Sun, enveloping them in darkness and allowing them to remain so dark that modern telescope technology often can not spot them. FarFarOut is not the only object on the market, but it is now the farthest we know.
Source of image: NASA
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