Scientists spot the farthest known object in our solar system, and it's pink

[NelsonG]

There's something orbiting the sun, way, way beyond the distant realm of Pluto. 

A team of astronomers recently spotted the farthest-known object in the solar system using a telescope atop Hawaii's lofty Mauna Kea, and announced the discovery on Monday. The object, formally called "2018 VG18" but nicknamed "Farout," orbits some 120 Astronomical Units from the sun. (One Astronomical Unit is the average distance between the Earth and the sun, which is about 93 million miles.)

The still largely-mysterious object is also 22 billion miles farther way than the second-most distant known object, another dwarf planet about the size of Pluto, called Eris.  Read more...

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