Astrophysicists have discovered a new celestial body named 2017 OF201, an object smaller than Pluto, located beyond Neptune in the outer solar system. Described as an “extreme cousin of Pluto,” it has an unusual orbit, taking approximately 25,000 years to circumnavigate the Sun. This discovery was made by a research team led by Sihao Cheng at the Institute for Advanced Study, utilizing a decade’s worth of astronomical data to identify the object, which is about one-third the size of Pluto and likely qualifies as a dwarf planet.
2017 OF201’s orbit features an aphelion (the farthest point from the Sun) that is more than 1,600 times that of Earth’s orbit, and a perihelion (the closest point) that is 44.5 times that of Earth’s orbit. The object is detectable only about 1% of the time, suggesting there may be other similar bodies yet to be discovered in what was previously thought to be an empty region beyond the Kuiper Belt.
The extreme orbit of 2017 OF201 implies it may have undergone interactions with a giant planet or may have been ejected to the Oort cloud before returning. This challenges the “Planet X” or “Planet Nine” hypothesis, which posits the existence of a distant planet influencing the orbits of other celestial objects in the Kuiper Belt. Researchers suggest 2017 OF201’s existence may indicate that such a hidden planet does not exist, although further exploration continues to seek more insights into our solar system’s complexities.
Note: The image is for illustrative purposes only and is not the original image of the presented article.
