Astronomers Detect Possible New Dwarf Planet At Solar System's Edge

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Scientists have discovered a colossal object approximately 435 miles (700 kilometres) wide in the frigid outer reaches of our solar system, which may qualify as a dwarf planet. 

Researchers suggest that its existence challenges previous assumptions about the emptiness of space beyond Neptune and the Kuiper Belt, which is known to host numerous icy bodies. 

The researchers said 2017 OF201 was identified in observations by telescopes in Chile and Hawaii spanning seven years.

"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 with collaborators Jiaxuan Li and Eritas Yang, graduate students at Princeton University.

Its size is estimated to be a bit smaller than Ceres, which is the smallest of the solar system's five recognised dwarf planets and has a diameter of about 590 miles (950km). Pluto, the largest of those dwarf planets, has a diameter of about 1,477 miles (2,377km).

"We don't know the shape yet. Unfortunately, it is too far away and it is a bit difficult to resolve it with telescopes," Cheng said. "Its composition is totally unknown yet, but likely similar to other icy bodies."