Meet 'Goblin', A New Dwarf Planet Found Beyond Pluto, Which Takes 40,000 Years To Go Around Sun
Dwarf planet nicknamed Goblin Goblin is estimated to be 300 km wide two times farther from the Sun than Pluto and takes approximately 40000 years to complete one orbit. Astronomers believe there could be hundreds of thousands of small bodies like dwarf planet Goblin near the edge of our solar system or even beyond.
Far, far beyond the orbits of the eight planets (sorry Pluto) that spin around our Sun, astronomers have discovered a new dwarf planet, nicknamed 'Goblin'.
Goblin is estimated to be 300 km wide, two times farther from the Sun than Pluto, and takes approximately 40,000 years to complete one orbit.
Carnegie Institution for Science
Officially named 2015 TG387, dwarf planet Goblin's discovery was announced yesterday by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center, with more details expected to arrive in a forthcoming paper in The Astronomical Journal, led by Carnegie Institution for Science astronomer Scott Sheppard.
According to co-author of the paper, David Tholen, an astronomer from the University of Hawaii, "Currently we would only detect 2015 TG387 when it is near its closest approach to the Sun. For some 99 percent of its 40,000-year orbit, it would be too faint to see."
He believes there could be hundreds of thousands of small bodies like dwarf planet Goblin near the edge of our solar system or even beyond, but finding and studying them is extremely difficult because of the vast distances.
What does dwarf planet Goblin's discovery mean?
It was completely by accident. Astronomers were actually hunting for a giant hypothetical planet beyond Pluto, a planet referred to as Planet Nine or Planet X. Mathematically it is supposed to exist in a mysterious region beyond the solar system called as the Oort Cloud.
Planet X or Planet Nine hasn't been observed directly by astronomers or space-based telescopes yet, but experts are convinced that dwarf planet Goblin's discovery and its massive trajectory around the sun means it's under the gravitational influence of a giant unseen object, which astronomers believe is the mysterious Planet X or Planet Nine.
Also, just when we started thinking we know what our solar system is made of, Goblin's discovery is proof that we don't know anywhere close to what lies in our solar neighbourhood.
