A team of scientists have succesfully discovered a new object at an extreme distance beyond Pluto with an orbit during their search for unknown dwarf planets and Planet X and for other distant Solar System objects.
The object, which is a newly found one, is referred to as 2015 TG387 is likely to be a dwarf planet due to the matter of fact that it has got a diameter of near 300 kms.
The object was located at about 80 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, which is the same distance measured between the Earth and Sun.
The location distance of Pluto is around 34 AU, so the object 2015 TG387 is about two and a half times further away from the Sun than Pluto is as of now.
“These distant objects are like breadcrumbs leading us to Planet X. The more of them we can find, the better we can understand the outer Solar System and the possible planet that we think is shaping their orbits – a discovery that would redefine our knowledge of the Solar System’s evolution,” said Scott Sheppard from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, US.
As per the team findings, who came up with the details by reporting it to the Astronomical Journal, 2015 TG387 was first observed in month of October in 2015 in Hawaii. Follow-up observations were obtained in the year 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 to enable the determination of 2015 TG387’s orbit.
The team performed computer simulations to make it out how different hypothetical Planet X orbits would affect the orbit of 2015 TG387.
The simulations also comprised of a Super-Earth-mass planet at several hundred AU on an elongated orbit.
The simulations showed mostly that not only was 2015 TG387’s orbit stable for the age of the Solar System, but it was actually shepherded by the gravity of Planet X, which keeps the smaller 2015 TG387 away from the big planet.
“What makes this result really interesting is that Planet X seems to affect 2015 TG387 the same way as all the other extremely distant Solar System objects,” explained Chad Trujillo from the Northern Arizona University.
“These simulations do not prove that there’s another massive planet in our Solar System, but they are further evidence that something big could be out there,” he added.
There was speculation of another planet beyond existing but research in this regard did not help in finding any such planet.
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