Tag Archive for 'Trans-Neptunian object'

An artist’s impression of a trans-Neptunian object. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon, STScI.

Newly-Discovered Trans-Neptunian Object is Moving in Rhythm with Neptune, Astronomers Say

Jul 17, 2025 by News Staff

Discovered by the Large inclination Distant Objects (LiDO) survey and designated 2020 VN40, this trans-Neptunian object is the first confirmed body that...

Cutout images of all 19 detections of 2017 OF201. Image credit: Cheng et al., arXiv: 2505.15806.

Astronomers Discover Dwarf Planet Candidate on 25,000-Year Orbit

May 27, 2025 by News Staff

Named 2017 OF201, the newly-discovered trans-Neptunian object is one of the most distant visible objects in our Solar System and is likely large (about...

This artist’s concept depicts one of the possible scenarios for the Altjira system in the Kuiper Belt. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Joseph Olmsted, STScI.

Kuiper-Belt Object Altjira is Likely a Hierarchical Triple System

Mar 4, 2025 by News Staff

Altjira, also known as 2001 UQ18, is located in the outer reaches of the Solar System, 6 billion km (3.7 billion miles) away, or 44 times the distance...

Protopapa et al. detected carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide spectral signatures on Charon using Webb telescope observations (white), which extend the wavelength coverage of previous New Horizons flyby measurements (pink). Image credit: S. Protopapa / SwRI / NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / JHUAPL.

Webb Detects Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen Peroxide on Charon’s Surface

Oct 1, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using data from the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have detected carbon dioxide...

Snapshot of the ancient stellar flyby. The turquoise particles indicate the TNOs injected into the planet region by the flyby. The perturber star passed through the disk at a perihelion distance of 110 AU on the right-hand side of the picture. Image credit: Pfalzner et al., doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02349-x.

Close Passage of Sun-Like Star Shaped Outer Solar System Billions of Years Ago, Research Suggests

Sep 10, 2024 by Natali Anderson

At least 140 million Sun-like stars in our Milky Way Galaxy are likely to have experienced a similar stellar flyby, according to new research by a team...

This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on August 30, 2006, shows the dwarf planet Eris (center) and its moon Dysnomia. Image credit: NASA / ESA / M. Brown, California Institute of Technology.

New Research Sheds Light on Internal Structure of Dwarf Planet Eris

Dec 4, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The trans-Neptunian dwarf planet Eris is tidally locked to its small moon Dysnomia. Recently obtained bounds on the mass of Dysnomia demonstrate that Eris...

An artist’s impression of Quaoar and its two rings. Quaoar’s moon Weywot is shown on the left. Image credit: ESA / Sci.News.

Astronomers Discover Second Ring around Quaoar

May 23, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Quaoar is a classical trans-Neptunian object with an equivalent diameter of 1,100 km. An artist’s impression of Quaoar and its two rings. Quaoar’s...

An artist’s concept of a Neptunian Trojan asteroid. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon, STScI / C. Fuentes, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Neptunian Trojan Asteroids Exist in Broad Spectrum of Red Color, Astronomers Find

Mar 29, 2023 by News Staff

Neptunian Trojans are trans-Neptunian objects in 1:1 mean-motion resonance with the ice giant Neptune. These asteroids are generally thought to have been...

An artist’s impression of the dwarf planet Quaoar and its ring. Quaoar’s moon Weywot is shown on the left. Image credit: ESA / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Astronomers Discover Ring around Trans-Neptunian Object Quaoar

Feb 9, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The newly-detected ring orbits at 7.4 radii from Quaoar — much further away from the object than the rings around Saturn. An artist’s impression...

Stellar Occultation Reveals Binary Trans-Neptunian Object: 2014 WC510

Sep 30, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A trans-Neptunian object designated 2014 WC510 is, in fact, a close binary system, according to an analysis of data obtained by the Research and Education...

Composite image of Uranus. Image credit: Marcos van Dam / W. M. Keck Observatory.

Herschel Measures Thermal Properties of Uranian Moons

Sep 17, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using data from the PACS photometer onboard ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory, astronomers have found that thermal properties of the five major moons...

An artist’s conception of a potential solar companion, which theorists believe was developed in the Sun’s birth cluster and later lost. If proven, the solar companion theory would provide additional credence to theories that the Oort Cloud formed as we see it today, and that Planet Nine was captured rather than formed in place. Image credit: M. Weiss.

Early Solar System May Have Had Two Suns

Aug 19, 2020 by News Staff

In a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, Harvard University astrophysicists Avi Loeb and Amir Siraj show that an equal-mass stellar companion...

Dwarf planet Sedna. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / R. Hurt, SSC-Caltech.

New Research Helps Explain Peculiar Orbits and Clustering of Outer Solar System’s Detached Objects

Jul 8, 2020 by News Staff

Our Solar System contains a large population of icy bodies stretching well beyond the orbit of Neptune. These objects are remnants from the early formation...

An artist’s impression of a rocky asteroid. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick, Space-art.co.uk / University of Warwick / University of Cambridge.

High-Inclination Centaur Asteroids Came from Interstellar Space: Study

Apr 28, 2020 by Natali Anderson

At least 17 high-inclination Centaurs and two trans-Neptunian objects were captured by the Solar System from the interstellar medium, according to a new...

Astronomers Discover 139 New Trans-Neptunian Objects

Mar 12, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers have released a catalog of 316 trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) — minor planets located in the far reaches of the Solar System —...

Beyond Neptune, there is a large disk of small objects, called the Kuiper Belt and beyond that is the Oort Cloud, home of the comets. This artwork shows a section of Kuiper Belt, crowded with the icy cores of potential comets. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Massive Disk of Trans-Neptunian Objects Casts Doubt on Planet Nine

Jan 23, 2019 by News Staff

In 2016, Caltech astronomers showed that six distant solar system objects (2007 TG422, 2013 RF98, 2004 VN112, 2012 VP113, 2012 GB174 and a minor planet...

This image of 2015 TG387 was taken by the Subaru Telescope on October 13, 2015. Image credit: Dave Tholen / Chad Trujillo / Scott Sheppard.

Astronomers Find New Extreme Dwarf Planet: 2015 TG387

Oct 5, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers have discovered a new dwarf planet in the Oort Cloud, a spherical ‘cloud’ of frozen objects surrounding the Solar System and extending...

An artist’s concept of the minor planet Sedna; the Sun appears as an extremely bright star instead of a large, warm disc observed from Earth; in the distance is a hypothetical small moon, which scientists believe may be orbiting this distant body. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Collective Gravity, Not Planet Nine, May Explain Orbits of Sedna and Other Detached Trans-Neptunian Objects

Jun 11, 2018 by News Staff

A team of planetary researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder has offered up a new theory for the existence of strange trans-Neptunian objects...

This artist’s concept depicts Haumea and its ring. Image credit: Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia.

Astronomers Discover Ring around Dwarf Planet Haumea

Oct 13, 2017 by Natali Anderson

An international research team led by astronomers from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) in Spain has discovered a ring around Haumea,...

Artist concept of the planetary body 2014 UZ224. Image credit: Alexandra Angelich / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

ALMA Observes Trans-Neptunian Planetary Body 2014 UZ224

Apr 13, 2017 by News Staff

Researchers using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have uncovered new clues about the recently-discovered planetary body UZ224. The...