Outer Solar System Experts Find 'Far Out There' Dwarf Planet

The new object was announced on Monday, December 17, 2018, by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center and has been given the provisional designation 2018 VG18. The discovery was made by Carnegie's Scott S. Sheppard, the University of Hawaii's David Tholen, and Northern Arizona University's Chad Trujillo.

2018 VG18, nicknamed "Farout" by the discovery team for its extremely distant location, is at about 120 astronomical units (AU), where 1 AU is defined as the distance between the Earth and the Sun. The second-most-distant observed Solar System object is Eris, at about 96 AU. Pluto is currently at about 34 AU, making 2018 VG18 more than three-and-a-half times more distant than the Solar System's most-famous dwarf planet.

phys.org, 17 Dec. 2018 - Outer solar system experts find 'far out there' dwarf planet.

Last week was the announcement of Voyager 2 exiting the heliopause and thus entering into interstellar space. To help out, V2 is 144.22 AU from the sun which places Farout (groovy dude! *peace sign*) well inside the heliopause.

These are the same researchers looking for Planet X (not Nibiru!) out on the outer edge of the solar system. The found "The Goblin" last Halloween at ~80 AU distance. I have serious doubts about a large-sized object out there but that is just arm-chair astronomy and personal feelings (aka, opinion). While gravity's rainbow can tug on objects, there could be other things like the brown dwarf that passed by the solar system pulling/pushing things out of place. But like I said, that is just my perspective.

Anyway, the old saying "there's nothing new under the sun" has been proven wrong twice in as many weeks!

Welcome 2018 VG18 to the solar system dance!

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

Very exciting news, but I think Farout needs to be careful given the way we treated Pluto after all those years. Earth has a reputation of 'hitting it, then quitting it'...

Until we actually break the governmental monopoly on the control of space, we will never really know what is out there. There are things we are not being told. That is obvious. What is planet X if not Nibiru? What is Nemesis? is any of it actually real? Until regular people can get up into space and see for ourselves, we can never know the truth.

a reply to: Rewey

And they are already calling "dwarf"!!

Not very cool, man!



a reply to: DarthMuerte

Planet 9, or just the variable, "X", is calculated to be the cause of "mysterious tugging" on the smaller objects out at the furthest edge of the solar system. They have been searching for a while which makes me hesitant to say it even exists.

Nibiru is The Traveler. A mysterious, gold outpost run by our alien overlords. The orbit is supposed to come into the solar system causing meteors, earth quakes, floods, dogs and cats living together, total chaos. But that is a whole other bunny hole to travel down!

Both are referred to as "Planet X" and causes confusion. I tend to use Planet "insert name here" or just "X" and use the name Nibiru when referring to the end of the world!

From the Subaru Telescope on Nov. 10, 2018
Credit: Scott S. Sheppard and David Tholen

The discovery images of 2018 VG18 were taken at the Japanese Subaru 8-meter telescope located atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii on November 10, 2018.

Once 2018 VG18 was found, it needed to be re-observed to confirm its very distant nature. (It takes multiple nights of observing to accurately determine an object's distance.) 2018 VG18 was seen for the second time in early December at the Magellan telescope at Carnegie's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. These recovery observations were performed by the team with the addition of graduate student Will Oldroyd of Northern Arizona University. Over the next week, they monitored 2018 VG18 with the Magellan telescope to secure its path across the sky and obtain its basic physical properties such as brightness and color.

The Magellan observations confirmed that 2018 VG18 is around 120 AU, making it the first Solar System object observed beyond 100 AU. Its brightness suggests that it is about 500 km in diameter, likely making it spherical in shape and a dwarf planet. It has a pinkish hue, a color generally associated with ice-rich objects.

phys.org.

That is real impressive that a 500 KM sized object, at 120 AU, can actually be seen from an earth-based telescope!

That gets my James Webb Space Telescope drool jets (take that Guy Fieri!!) flowing!

Is it 2020 yet?!?!

I like the name Farout. I hope it sticks.

a reply to: rickymouse




Better than "Bidden"!!! That was the nickname for one of their other discoveries (the other being "the Goblin").

Yay, they found Nibiru! So there are you Sitchin haters!

a reply to: Blue Shift


It is too small!

They claim Planet X is a "super-earth" which means, to me, that it is larger than 500 KM.

Prolly can't find it because the gold powder in the atmosphere absorbs all the light!!

a reply to: DarthMuerte

You can see better without going there even normal people or members on here see link.

Calling all Astrophotographers, all skill levels. Post your work

originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

"2018 VG18, nicknamed "Farout" by the discovery team for its extremely distant location..."

Maybe that's where the "Far Out Space Nuts" went!

Is there anyone here who's old like me and remembers this Saturday morning kids' TV show?

originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
a reply to: Blue Shift
It is too small!

It just looks that way because it's so far away!

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

What were Sid and Marty Kroft on???

Seems like it was stronger than "hand rolled puffing stuff"!!

I do not think I saw that particular show. You have to love shows that sing their origin like Gilligan's Island, The Fresh Prince of bel Air, or TWD!!

a reply to: Blue Shift



Is so small because it looks so far away! Geesh! Watch Sid and Marty Kroft shows and learn some science!