Astronomers found an object in 2018 that they thought was the farthest out object in our solar system. It took three years to confirm it, but the International Astronomical Union (IAU) designated Farfarout as the farthest out object on February 10, 2021.
Yes, the farthest out object is called Farfarout. There is also a Farout, but this new object is farther out.
Farfarout is a planetoid, which is another name for an asteroid, or possibly a minor planet. Basically, an object in orbit around our sun is a planetoid.
How far out is Farfarout? Here are the amazing details:
- Farfarout was at 140 astronomical units (AU) when it was first found in 2018. (One AU is the distance from the Earth to the sun or about 93 million miles. Pluto is at 39 AU.)
- By studying its brightness, astronomers think Farfarout is roughly 250 miles wide and made of ice. That could change with more observations.
- A single orbit takes a thousand years. It’s slow-moving, which is why it took a long time to confirm its orbit.
- Farfarout has an extremely elliptical orbit moving between 27 AU and 175 AU.
- It crosses Neptune’s orbit, and the eighth planet might have flung Farfarout to its present location. It will cross Neptune’s orbit again, so all this could change in the future.
- Farfarout is not Planet 9. As the name implies, Farfarout is farther away from the sun than Planet 9, and this new planetoid is too small to help us locate the hypothesized 9th planet.
- Farfarout will eventually get a better name. Right now, it is officially known as 2018 AG37.