Science And Sciencibility

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Wednesday, 3 October 2018

Third dwarf planet discovered on outskirts of solar system

A round frozen dwarf planet just 300 kilometres across, nicknamed the Goblin, has been discovered well beyond Pluto, further redefining our solar system.  This is the third dwarf planet recently found to be orbiting on the frigid fringes of our solar system.


Goblin's orbit is extremely elongated — so stretched out, in fact, that it takes 40,000 years for it to circle the sun. At its most distant, the Goblin is 2,300 times further from the sun than Earth. That's 2,300 astronomical units (AU). One AU is the distance from Earth to the sun, or roughly 150 million kilometres. At its closest, the Goblin is 65 times farther from the sun than Earth, or 65 AU. Pluto, by comparison, is approximately between 30 and 50 AU.


Dr CLÉiRIGh at 00:00
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