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Neptune, too, might have a new companion around. Uranus can pull and push minor bodies around. Image credit: NASA Between the orbits of Saturn and Neptune, there is a population of minor space bodies known as the Centaurs. There could be up to 10 million of them, but they tend to have unstable orbits due to the gravitational influences of the giant planets. Occasionally, some enter a temporary stable orbit, joining one of the planets in a resonance. This is what is believed to have happened between Centaur 2015 OU194 and the planet Uranus, the first ever report of this...

In the vast expanse between Uranus and Neptune, a team of researchers have uncovered something really quite extraordinary, a minor planet that has been locked in precise gravitational manouevres with Uranus for at least a million years. This discovery sheds new light on the complex dynamics that govern our Solar System's outer reaches. The object in question, designated 2015 OU₁₉₄, belongs to a class of small bodies called Centaurs, rocky and icy objects that orbit between Jupiter and Neptune. What makes this particular Centaur special is its remarkably stable relationship with Uranus, locked in what is known as a 3:4...