A strange goblin planet found on the periphery of the solar system

A strange little dwarf planet with a colorful name gives astronomers new evidence of the hunt for planet X.

The goblin is a recently confirmed dwarf planet that moves to the confines of the solar system. Known officially as the TG387 2015, the nickname comes from the "TG" part of the designation and the fact that it was first seen around Halloween in 2015, according to the Carnegie Institution for Science.

The organization also published an artistic conception of The Goblin:

The dwarf planet is currently about two and a half times farther from the sun than Pluto, but it is in an elliptical orbit so extreme that it will finally be 67 times farther away from the sun than Pluto and in the sky. Inner cloud of Oort.

With a diameter of only 186 km, The Goblin is also small, even for a dwarf planet.

"We think that there could be thousands of small bodies like the 2015 TG387 on the periphery of the solar system, but their distance makes it difficult to find them," said David Tholen of the University of Hawaii. in a press release. "Currently, we would only detect the TG387 2015 when it is getting closer to its closest approach to the sun. For about 99% of its 40,000-year-old orbit, it would be too weak to be seen. "

Scientists have explained that the goblin's orbit – and orbits of similar objects at the confines of the solar system – suggest that they are guided by the gravity of the planet X. This is a planet theorized but still invisible many times the size of the Earth on the edge of the solar system.