Northern Arizona University’s Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science’s team of astronomers led by associate professor Chad Trujillo and including Scott S. Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science and David Tholen from the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy have confirmed a planetoid located almost four times farther from the Sun than Pluto, making it the most remote object ever observed in our solar system. With typical nerdy aplomb, it has been nicknamed “FarFarOut”, although it has an official designation of 2018 AG37.
First detected in 2018, it has taken until now to actually observe it using the Subaru 8-meter telescope located atop Maunakea in Hawaii. It is located on average 132 au (astronomical units) from the Sun. An au is the distance between the Earth and the Sun. It appears to have a very elongated orbit that takes it out to 175 au at its most distant and as close as 27 au, which is inside the orbit of Neptune and its orbit is about one thousand years. Despite it being very feint, the team has managed to estimate its size to be about four hundred kilometres across, so even in planetoid terms it is very small indeed.
Arguably the most distant object observed in the solar system. Farfarout is said to be even further away than Boris Johnson’s chances of making a success of Brexit.
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