One year here is 25,000 days: Possible Dwarf planet discovered in Solar System
Astronomers have long been on the hunt for planet X, a world hidden in the dark corner at the far reaches of the Solar System and they have hit upon a jacket.An object about 700 kilometers wide has been detected in the frigid region of the Solar System that might qualify as a dwarf planet.A dwarf planet is a type of celestial body in our solar system that shares some similarities with regular (major) planets but doesn't meet all the criteria to be classified as one.advertisement
Dubbed 2017 OF201, the object is trans-Neptunian orbiting the sun at a distance beyond that of Neptune. The object takes about 25,000 years to complete a single orbit of the sun, compared to 365 days for Earth to do so."It is potentially large enough to qualify as a dwarf planet. Its orbit is very wide and eccentric, which means it experienced an interesting orbital migration path in the past," said astrophysicist Sihao Cheng of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, who led the study.
Cutout images of all 19 detections of the newly identified trans-Neptunian object. (Photo: Reuters)
advertisementIts size is estimated to be slightly smaller than Ceres—the smallest of the five officially recognized dwarf planets—which measures about 590 miles (950 km) across. For comparison, Pluto, the largest among them, has a diameter of roughly 1,477 miles (2,377 km).As for its heft, 2017 OF201 is incredibly lightweight on a cosmic scale. Scientists estimate its mass is about 20,000 times less than Earth's and 50 times less than Pluto's."We don't know the shape yet," said astronomer Cheng. "Unfortunately, it's too far away and difficult to resolve with current telescopes." Its composition remains a mystery as well, though researchers believe it's probably similar to other icy objects in the outer solar system.The object's discovery was announced by the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union, and the findings were detailed in a study posted on the open-access platform arXiv."We still don't know much about the solar system far away because currently, it is difficult to directly see things beyond about 150 astronomical units. The presence of this single object suggests that there could be another hundred or so other objects with similar orbit and size. They are just too far away to be detectable right now," Cheng said.Must Watch
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
4 hours ago
- The Hindu
Is it a moon? Is it a dwarf planet? Well, it's Charon, and it could well be both!
Charon's discovery The story of Charon's discovery takes us back to 1978 – a time when even astronomers were still thinking that Pluto was a planet. Little was known about Pluto and its system, but all that was about to change in the decades that followed. On the morning of June 22, American astronomer James Christy already had his head whirling around. If you were under the impression that he was zeroing in on the solution for an astronomical problem, you couldn't be further from the truth. Christy was sharpening his plans to move his house, getting ready for a week's leave from the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona – his workplace. It was under these circumstances that Robert Harrington, his boss, handed him a set of six photographs of Pluto. Christy and Harrington were looking to refine Pluto's orbit around the sun – a journey that takes Pluto 248 Earth years. Pluto's average distance from the sun is 5.9 billion km. The technology available at that time meant that even the best photographs of it hardly revealed anything. What's more, these six images – acquired in pairs over three nights in the month between April 13 and May 12 – were labelled as 'defective.' Odd blobs The reason why these pictures were labelled thus owed to the fact that they revealed Pluto to be oddly elongated. Viewing them under a microscope, Christy noticed that the fuzzy blob that was to be Pluto stretched in a northern direction in two of those pairs, while the final pair showed a southward direction. The defects were attributed either to atmospheric distortion or improper optical alignment in the telescope used for observations. After ruling out an explosion on Pluto as an unlikely explanation – especially as it lasted a month – Christy searched for other plausible reasons. There was a chance that Pluto itself was irregular in shape. Or could there be an unseen moon, even though one of his former professors, celebrated Dutch-American astronomer Gerard Kuiper, had searched for exactly the same decades earlier without any success? When Christy went over to the archives to check through older plates from 1965 onwards, there it was... the same elongation. What's more, all these images had also been dismissed as defective on every occasion. Correct conclusions Christy and Harrington, however, realised that they were onto something. By reviewing all the images with the elongations, they were able to state that the bulge occurred with a predictable frequency. This frequency of the unseen moon's orbital period – 6.4 Earth days – matched with what astronomers believed to be Pluto's rotational period, suggesting a synchronously locked binary system. The duo ruled out other possible reasons for the bulge and concluded correctly that Pluto had another companion at a distance of 19,640 km. The discovery of 'S/1978 P1' was announced by them through the International Astronomical Union (IAU) on July 7 and their findings were published in the Astronomical Journal. What started out as reviewing six defective images, served as the seeds for a whole new discovery. As Christy himself once pointed out, 'Discovery is where the scientist touches nature in its least predictable aspect.' What's in a name? As the discoverer, Christy wanted to exercise his rights for naming Pluto's companion. And he had his mind set on naming it after his wife. The Naval Observatory he worked for had suggested the name Persephone, the wife of Hades. Hades, the god of the underworld in Greek mythology, was the equivalent of the Roman god Pluto after which it is named. As luck would have it, Christy came across a reference to Charon, a boatman who ferried the dead across a river in the underworld to Hades. Charon's close mythical association with Hades, or Pluto, made it a great option for the newly discovered astronomical object. It was the perfect option for Christy as his wife's name was Charlene. In addition to sharing the first four letters, 'Char' was the nickname that friends and family used to call his wife. Just like how protons and electrons have the 'on' suffix, Christy saw Charon as 'Char' with the suffix 'on' and submitted his name. Eclipses and occultations By the time this name was accepted by IAU in January 1986, Pluto and Charon had a series of mutual eclipses and occultations. Studying them enabled astronomers in general, and Harrington in particular, to confirm the existence of Charon as he observed the eclipses and occultations to occur as predicted. Observing Pluto and Charon in this manner also enabled astronomers to arrive at Charon's diameter to be about 1,200 km, while also arriving at better estimates of the size and mass of Pluto. From a small dot in a photograph, Charon had become much much more – almost a world in its own right. It definitely meant the world to Christy in more ways than one, as he was also able to gift his wife the moon! Charlene Christy probably summed it the best when she said 'A lot of husbands promise their wives the moon, but Jim actually delivered.' Charon fact sheet Most of what we know about Charon, or even Pluto for that matter, is thanks to NASA's New Horizons mission. Approved in 2001 as the first flyby of Pluto and its largest moon Charon, it was launched in January 2006. This was months before IAU's decision in August the same year to demote Pluto's designation from a planet to a dwarf planet. Despite the fact that Pluto was plutoed, the mission went on, providing us invaluable information. Before New Horizons' closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, the spacecraft captured plenty of images of Charon. While the images revealed a striking reddish north (top) polar region, Charon's colour palette wasn't as diverse as Pluto's. The origins of this red colouration is a mystery for now and no other icy object in the solar system sports a similar feature. Charon is 1,214 km across and is at a distance of 19,640 km from Pluto. As Pluto's equatorial diameter is about 2,377 km, Charon is nearly half the size of Pluto. This makes it the largest known satellite relative to its parent body for most astronomers. It is this same size, however, that forces other astronomers to consider Pluto and Charon as a double dwarf planet system. Charon's orbit takes 6.4 Earth days to go around Pluto. Charon neither rises or sets, however, but instead hovers near the same region on Pluto's surface. The same surfaces of Charon and Pluto always face each other due to a phenomenon called mutual tidal locking.
The Hindu
18 hours ago
- The Hindu
Israeli scientists at Weizmann Institute of Science scramble to save work after Iranian missile hits labs
Researchers at Israel's prestigious Weizmann Institute of Science have been scrambling to save their experiments after an Iranian missile destroyed a building containing dozens of cutting-edge laboratories. The missile struck the institute's campus at Rehovot, on the southern periphery of Tel Aviv, in the early hours of Sunday, damaging multiple buildings and prompting researchers to clamber into the ruins to save samples even as fire raged. No one was hurt as the campus was empty overnight, but one part of a building collapsed, while in the remaining part the walls were blown out, exposing a tangle of twisted metal, blasted debris and blackened cement. Israel-Iran conflict LIVE updates "We did our best to save as much of the samples as we could from the labs, from the buildings, while we were fighting the fire," physicist Roee Ozeri, Weizmann's vice president for development and communications, told Reuters. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the devastated site on Friday and praised the researchers as well as the rescuers of the country's emergency services, describing both groups as the "best of Israel." "This building behind me, next to me, says everything," Mr. Netanyahu said, pointing to the massive pile of rubble. "Iran is the pre-eminent terrorist regime in the world. It must not, cannot have nuclear weapons. That is the purpose of Israel's actions - to save itself from the Iranian threat of annihilation, but by doing so, we are saving many, many others.' Israel began attacking Iran on June 13, saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone attacks on Israel. Israel's strikes have killed several prominent Iranian nuclear scientists, wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command, damaged nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of civilians. Iran has not said if or why it targeted the Weizmann Institute. Last Thursday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years. Iran has long maintained its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. Iran's attacks have killed 24 civilians in Israel and damaged hundreds of structures, including a hospital in the southern city of Beersheba. While most of the institute's research is in areas with potential benefits for medicine and scientific knowledge, it also has connections with defence. It announced in October 2024 a collaboration with Israel's largest defence firm Elbit on "bio-inspired materials for defence applications". A multidisciplinary institution which carries out research in fields including genetics, immunology and astrophysics, Weizmann was founded in 1934 and is considered world-class within the international scientific community. It is Israel's most important science research institute, with 286 research groups, 191 staff scientists and hundreds of PhD students, master's students and postdoctoral fellows. 'Everything is lost' The Iranian missile hit the work of researchers such as Eldad Tzahor, who focuses on regenerative medicine with particular relevance to adult heart diseases. He said many samples and tissues that had been part of long-running experiments had been destroyed. "Everything is lost," he told Reuters TV. "I would estimate that it will take us about a year to get into a full year of research and with everything working again." In financial terms, the damage is estimated at $300-$500 million, according to the institute, which operates costly, complex machines, often shared between several labs or research groups. Jacob Hanna, who runs a molecular genetics team focused on embryonic stem cell biology, told the scientific journal Nature that his lab's ceiling had collapsed and the staircase had detached. His students managed to save hundreds of frozen mouse and human cell lines by transferring them to back-up liquid-nitrogen tanks that Hanna had stored in the basement, Nature reported. "I was always worried that if a war actually happens, I don't want to lose these," he said.
Time of India
18 hours ago
- Time of India
Macron challenges Europe to rival US, China in space
By Tim Hepher, Giulia Segreti, Makini Brice PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron threw France's backing behind plans for a European satellite manufacturing champion and called for accelerated deployment of Starlink-type satellites as he declared space the new theatre for world power competition. Speaking at the Paris Airshow on Friday, after France moved to take control of Starlink competitor Eutelsat , Macron called for an energetic push spanning launchers to manufacturing and services as he set out a strategy to counter the sprawling rocket-to-telecoms interests of U.S. billionaire Elon Musk. Staged amid the conflict between Israel and Iran, the world's largest aerospace event has mostly been dominated by geopolitical and trade tensions and fragile supply chains, rather than the usual glittering jetliner order announcements. On Friday, attention turned from defence displays to space. "At the intersection of all these public and private questions, as well as civil, military, scientific and industrial ones, space has in some way become a gauge of international power," Macron said in a speech to delegates. Europe has taken a lead in Earth observation but has struggled for years to keep up with the United States and China in a domain now considered as strategic as the planet's oceans. It lost independent access to orbit for more than a year in 2023 following technical problems, delays and a breakdown of ties with Russia over Ukraine that halted use of Soyuz rockets. Despite Europe being the world's largest exporter of satellites, its two main manufacturers - Airbus and a tie-up between Thales and Italy's Leonardo - have struggled to make money and want to pool those activities. "They have our full support and confidence. I want us to build this new champion as soon as possible," Macron said. "This is what will allow us, as Europeans, to have the scale to improve competitiveness and volume. It's a sector consolidation." Under pressure from Musk's cheaper low Earth-orbit Starlink satellites and a shift away from bespoke satellites in higher orbit, Airbus, Thales and Leonardo have said they are discussing plans code-named Project Bromo to forge a combined venture. Previous efforts to pool satellite-making have been thwarted by competition concerns. DEFENCE SPENDING In a third battleground, the importance of satellite services and connectivity has been highlighted by Ukraine. On Thursday, France agreed to inject $1.55 billion into debt-laden Eutelsat, sending its shares soaring. U.S. and Chinese spending on space dwarfs European budgets and insiders say industrial squabbling has curbed co-operation. The European Space Agency says the U.S. accounted for nearly two-thirds of the global space budget in 2023; Europe just 11%. Space budgets may get a lift from defence funds flowing into the sector. But fiscal room for Macron's new agenda is tight. "Partnership between public and private capital will be needed and this requires a considerable effort", said Jean-Pierre Darnis, associate fellow at the Foundation for Strategic Research. France is struggling to get public finances under control after spending spiralled higher last year. Europe is already hiking defence spending after U.S. President Donald Trump's team made clear that the United States was no longer willing to be the main guarantor of Europe's security. "The big story of this show is sovereignty in the wake of some of the statements by (Trump) questioning U.S. commitment to Europe and to NATO," said Vago Muradian, founder of the Defense & Aerospace Report. Macron flew into Le Bourget days before a NATO summit on a French Air Force A400M transport plane - itself a symbol of Europe's shifting priorities after years of battles over costs. The future of Europe's troop plane had been under threat after some of its European NATO sponsor nations including France and Spain slowed the pace of deliveries or cut their orders. Exports have also fallen short of expectations. But Airbus signed an agreement with procurement agency OCCAR at the show to stabilise production until 2029. Weapons makers and buyers are increasingly touting the label "ITAR-free" to avoid getting caught up in U.S. export controls for certain components, a senior European industry official said. ITAR stands for International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Some U.S. suppliers are scoping out ways of offering ITAR-free product lines to avoid being left out by the European spending wave, analysts said. The commercial side of the show fell silent on Friday after being overshadowed by last week's crash of an Air India Boeing 787 jet in India. Boeing sat out any announcements as Airbus and Embraer rolled out deals earlier in the week. Some airlines are shunning such shows to announce purchases in Washington or other capitals as aircraft become a currency of choice in a new style of transactional politics, delegates said. Organisers said the show nonetheless had record attendance.
