Artistic vision 2018 VG18
A team of astronomers was able to find the most distant celestial body in the solar system. This is the first object of our system, found at a distance of 100 times farther than the Earth from the Sun. A new object called 2018 VG18.
2018 VG18 also called “Farout” (“Far”) because of the extremely large distance to the Sun, which is about 120 a. e. (1 a. e. = Earth-Sun distance). The second most distant known object in the solar system is Eris (96 a. E.). For you to understand, Pluto is distant by 34 a. e., which makes the 2018 VG18 three times more distant than the most famous dwarf planet of the solar system.
2018 VG18 discovered a team to search for extremely distant objects of the solar system, including the mysterious planet X (Ninth Planet). In October, the same group announced the discovery of another distant body - 2015 TG387 (“Goblin”), located at a distance of about 80 a. e.
Distance in the Solar System to the scale found by VG18 2018. A comparison with other celestial bodies of the system is shown.
For the first time this group of researchers proposed the existence of a large Ninth Planet on the outskirts of the Solar System in 2014, when they found 2012 VP113 (84 a. E.). The 2015 TG387 and 2012 VP113 never get close enough to the giant planets (Neptune and Jupiter) to engage in substantial gravitational interaction. So, they are able to be detectors of what is happening in the outer regions of the solar system. The team has little information about the 2018 VG18 orbit, so it’s too early to speak about planet X. While we can say that the 2018 VG18 is much further and rotates much slower than other observable objects of the solar system. So it will take years to determine the orbit. It is believed that the body will spend more than 1000 years flying around the Sun.
Image 2018 VG18 from the Subaru telescope, obtained on November 10, 2018. The object moved in the photographs, while the background stars and galaxies remained fixed for an hour
Photos of the discoveries of the 2018 VG18 were taken on November 10, 2018 on the Japanese 8-meter Subaru telescope. Confirmation received after re-observation in early December at the Magellan telescope. Analysis of the brightness suggests that the object reaches 500 km in diameter and seems spherical in shape. All this points to a dwarf planet. The surface has a pinkish tint, which usually indicates an ice object.
