Astronomers confirm that Farfarout is the furthest away from the solar system

With the help of the International Gemini Observatory, NSF’s NOIRLab Program, and other ground-based telescopes, astronomers have confirmed that a weak object was discovered in 2018 and the nickname “Farfarout” is the longest away which is still found in our Solar System. The object has just received its assignment from the International Astronomical Union.

Farfarout was first seen in January 2018 with the Subaru Telescope, located on Maunakea in Hawai’i. Those who found him might say that he was very far away, but they were not sure how far. They needed more ideas.

“At that time we didn’t know the orbit of the object because we only had the Subaru detection observations over 24 hours, but it will take years of observation to find the orbit of an object around the Sun,” the co. detective Scott Sheppard from the Carnegie Institution of Science. “All we knew was that the object appeared to be very far away at the time of the discovery.”

Sheppard and his colleagues, David Tholen of the University of Hawai’i and Chad Trujillo of the University of Northern Arizona, spent the next few years monitoring the object with the Gemini North telescope (also on Maunakea in Hawai’i ) and the Carnegie Institution of Magellan Telescopes in Chile to determine its orbit. [1] They have now confirmed that Farfarout currently lies 132 celestial units (s) from the Sun, which is 132 times farther from the Sun than the Earth. (For comparison, Pluto 39 au is from the Sun, on average.)

Farfarout is even more remote than the previous Solar System speed guard, discovered by the same team and nicknamed “Farout.” Temporarily dedicated to 2018 VG18, Farout 124 au is from the Sun.

However, Farfarout ‘s orbit is very long, taking it 175 au from the Sun at its farthest point and about 27 au at its closest point, which is within Neptune’ s orbit. As its orbit spans Neptune’s, Farfarout was able to provide insights into the history of the outer Solar System.

“Farfarout appears to have been thrown into the Outdoor Solar System by getting too close to Neptune in the past,” Trujillo said. “Farfarout is likely to interact with Neptune again in the future as their orbits are still in transit.”

Farfarout is very weak. Based on its brightness and distance from the Sun, the team estimates that it is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) across, placing it at a low end possibly identified as a dwarf planet by the Astronomical Union -national (IAU).

The IAU Minor Planet Center in Massachusetts announced today that they have awarded Farfarout the 2018 temporary designation AG37. The most recognizable member of the Solar System will get an official name after gathering more ideas and its orbit will be more refined in the years to come.

“Farfarout will take a thousand years to orbit the sun once,” Tholen said. “Because of this, it moves slowly across the skies, requiring several years of ideas to accurately determine its path.”

Farfarout recipients are confident that even more distant objects are found on the periphery of the Solar System, and that the distance record may not last that long.

“Farfarout’s discovery demonstrates our growing ability to map the Outdoor Solar System and look farther and farther toward the margins of our Solar System,” said Sheppard “It is only with the advances in the last few years that large digital cameras on very large telescopes have been able to effectively detect distant objects such as Farfarout. Even though some of the distant objects are quite large – the size of small planets – they are very weak due to their distance from the Sun. Farfarout is just at the tip of the iceberg in the distant Solar System. “

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Notes

[1] The Gemini North comments on Farfarout were made on May 1 and May 2, 2019 Standard Time, using the Director’s Optional Time.

Find out more

NSIR’s NOIRLab (National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory), the U.S. center for ground-based infrared optical astronomy, operates the International Gemini Observatory (facility of NSF, NRC-Canada, ANID-Chile, MCTIC-Brazil, MINCyT-Argentina, and KASI-Republic of Korea), Kitt Peak National Theater (KPNO), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Theater (CTIO), Center for Community Science and Data (CSDC), and Observatory Vera C. Rubin (in collaboration with SLAC National DOE Acceleration Laboratory). It is regulated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a collaborative agreement with NSF and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. It is an honor for the astronomical community to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on Iolkam Du’ag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawaii? In, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the great cultural and respect that these sites play for the Tohono O’odham Nation, the indigenous Hawaiian community, and the local communities of Chile, respectively.

Links

University of Hawai’i Press Release

NAOJ / Subaru Press Release

Mini-Planet Circular 2021-C187

Images of North Gemini telescope

2018 Conversation referring to Farfarout by Scott Sheppard
“Beyond Pluto: the hunt for a giant planet X”

Please contact

Scott Sheppard

Earth and Plans Laboratory

Carnegie Institution of Science

Phone: +1 202-478-8854

Email: [email protected]

David Tholen

University of Hawai’i

Email: [email protected]

Chad Trujillo

University of Northern Arizona

Email: [email protected]

Amanda Kocz

Internal Media and Communications Officer

NOIRLab NSF

Cell: +1 626-524-5884

Email: [email protected]