Coming right on the heels of NASA’s 60th anniversary of operations comes a finding that comes as a direct result of funding by NASA through Planetary Astronomy grant NNX15AF44G – the announcement of another dwarf planet orbiting the Sun!
Now, these dwarf planets are nothing new. The most famous of which is, of course, Pluto, but there are many more – Eris being another famous one (being part of the reason the Dwarf Planet classification was introduced in 2006) with others having less memorable names, like VP113 or the slightly more memorable Sedna.
This new planet, identified as 2015 TG387 and nicknamed “The Goblin” currently ranks as at aphelion (its furthest from the sun) the most distant dwarf planet in our solar system – at its furthest it’s 2.5 times the distance to the sun as Pluto. Incredibly far – so far, in fact, it was only able to be detected, barely, during this recent close point in its 40,000-year orbit.
The crazy thing is how this new dwarf planet was discovered – the hunt for Planet X.
Yes, Planet X. That hypothetical 10th.. er, 9th… planet beyond the orbit of Neptune. A planet massive enough in and of itself to explain the somewhat odd orbits of Neptune and Uranus which don’t quite add up on their own. It’s an idea as old as, well, the discovery of Uranus. We thought it would be Neptune when it was discovered, but then, that just added more questions. Then, the same with Pluto, and we all know how that turned out The hunt still continues, and I’m not one to say it isn’t possible Planet X is out there – it damn well could be.
Of note with the discovery of 2015 TG387 is that its orbit seems to have the same peculiarities as many other dwarf planets, leading to the idea that “Planet X” might well be out there interacting on it and other worlds. An interesting proposition.
Rather than talk about it anymore, I’ll let you read the release from Carnegie Science regarding this new discovery. Honestly, it’s pretty damned exciting!