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An extremely distant dwarf planet, called The Goblin, has been discovered during observations that redefine the limits of the solar system.
Astronomers made this discovery by searching for a hypothetical gigantic planet, called Planet Nine, believed to be in orbit well beyond Pluto, in a mysterious region known as the Oort Cloud. Planet Nine has not been seen directly yet, but The Goblin seems to be under the gravitational influence of an invisible giant object, which adds to the certainty of astronomers that it already exists.
The newly discovered ice world, estimated to be only 300 km in diameter, is in an extremely elongated orbit. At close range, it is about two and a half times farther from the sun than Pluto. Then he heads to the outermost limits of the solar system, almost 60 times farther than Pluto, putting 40,000 years to loop around the sun. For 99% of its orbit, it would be too weak to be seen.
The object is the third minor planet to have been found in the outer solar system, as a result of Sedna's discoveries and, recently, another object called 2012 VP113. And this region, which once seemed to be cold, dark and empty, now appears as a rich collection of exotic and extreme objects.
"We have just discovered what the external solar system could look like and what could be," said Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC and a member of the team. "We believe that there are thousands of dwarf planets in the remote solar system. We only see the tip of the iceberg right now.
Curiously, the orbits of the three objects discovered so far seem to be clustered, suggesting that they are being watched by a giant and unknown object. This has brought astronomers to the existence of a ninth planet, the size of a super-Earth.
Konstantin Batygin, Assistant Professor of Planetary Science at Caltech, who worked on theoretical simulations of the hypothetical Planet Nine, described the latest observations as a "great discovery."
"Despite centuries of investigation, our understanding of the solar system remains incomplete," he said. "This certainly adds to the growing book of … objects that reflect the influence of Planet Nine."
The official name of the new dwarf planet, awarded by the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union, is 2015 TG387. But he quickly acquired his most memorable nickname because "a human examination of the slow-moving candidates for the candidacy took place around the time of Halloween," said David Tholen, of the University of Toronto. Hawaii and member of the observation team.
The discovery was made with the help of the 8-meter Subaru Japanese telescope located on the dormant Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii. The telescope is the only one in the world able to produce deep images capable of probing the confines of the solar system, while having a field of vision large enough to be able to visualize enough sky to discover rare objects. "With other big telescopes, it's like looking through a straw, so they're useful for observing things you know are there, but not for finding new things because their field of vision is too much." small to cover large areas of sky, "said Sheppard. .
The team will begin a new series of sightings in November, hoping to find other objects, including the elusive Planet Nine.
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