Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

'Farout!' Newfound Object Is the Farthest Solar System Body Ever Spotted
Space.com ^ | December 17, 2018 01:00pm ET | Sarah Lewin,

Posted on 12/17/2018 1:54:59 PM PST by BenLurkin

The discovery team nicknamed the object "Farout," and its provisional designation from the International Astronomical Union is 2018 VG18. Preliminary research suggests it's a round, pinkish dwarf planet. The same team spotted a faraway dwarf planet nicknamed "The Goblin" in October.

The object is more than 3.5 times the current distance between Pluto and the sun (34 AU), and it outpaces the previous farthest-known solar system object, the dwarf planet Eris, which is currently about 96 AU from the sun. NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft recently entered interstellar space at about 120 AU, leaving the sun's "sphere of influence" called the heliopause, where bodies experience the solar wind.

The record Farout now holds is for the most-distant solar system body ever observed. That doesn't mean no other objects gets farther away from the sun than 120 AU. In fact, we know some that do. The dwarf planet Sedna gets more than 900 AU away on its highly elliptical orbit, for example...

The research team is scoping out these ultradistant objects to search for the gravitational influence of a theorized super-Earth-size Planet Nine, also called Planet X, that researchers have posited orbits in the extreme reaches of the solar system. The movements of several distant bodies have suggested the existence of this planet, which would be extremely faint and hard to locate.

Because the proposed Planet 9 is so distant — between hundreds and thousands of AU, researchers told Space.com, the planet can alter the orbits of objects far too distant to be strongly influenced by the inner solar-system planets. That means that looking for trends in the orbits of objects like Farout can point the way to the mysterious planet, giving researchers hints of where to look for it and chances to test the powerful telescopes that might someday spot it.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: 2018vg18; astronomy; chadtrujillo; davidtholen; farout; planet; science; scottssheppard; xplanets; yellowtroll
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-29 last
To: BenLurkin
I think they should have called it "Wayout" after the rock band.


21 posted on 12/17/2018 3:21:51 PM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oatka

GN-z11 is a high-redshift galaxy found in the constellation Ursa Major. GN-z11 is currently the oldest and most distant known galaxy in the observable universe. GN-z11 has a spectroscopic redshift of z = 11.09, which corresponds to a proper distance of approximately 32 billion light-years (9.8 billion parsecs).

22 posted on 12/17/2018 3:28:30 PM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob
Enlighten me please Penny. If the Big Bang was 14.5 billion years ago how can this galaxy be 32.5 billion light years away?

Sheldon

23 posted on 12/17/2018 3:35:45 PM PST by Don Corleone (Nothing makes the delusional more furious than truth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

24 posted on 12/17/2018 3:36:19 PM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin
John Denver

Far out!
25 posted on 12/17/2018 4:26:28 PM PST by salmon76 (ABCNNBCBS => Fake News)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Don Corleone

Inflationary Expansion. And the current observations lead some to thing that it is speeding up!


26 posted on 12/17/2018 4:26:54 PM PST by Conan the Librarian (The Best in Life is to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and the Dewey Decimal System)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Don Corleone
Penny...Penny...Penny...

At least one of the three following must be incorrect:

1. The Big Bang dating is incorrect.
2. Red-shift assumptions are incorrect.
3. God intervened (though Sheldon doesn't believe).

27 posted on 12/17/2018 5:39:27 PM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin
Thanks BenLurkin .
 
X-Planets
· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe ·
Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar ·

28 posted on 12/17/2018 9:19:57 PM PST by SunkenCiv (and btw -- https://www.gofundme.com/for-rotator-cuff-repair-surgery)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

#8 Do they even have women in bikinis in today’s tv shows?
Judy Carne looked good in a bikini back then.


29 posted on 12/18/2018 9:05:27 AM PST by minnesota_bound
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-29 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson