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Astronomer Finds Potential Furthest Object In Solar System
Prominent astronomer Dr Scott Sheppard, of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington D.C., has discovered a new object in the distant reaches of our solar system and given it the name FarFarOut. "At 140 times further away from the sun than our own planet is, the newly identified body -- if its discovery is confirmed -- will become the furthest known object in our solar system," reports The Guardian. Sheppard's discovery was made after his team was analyzing astronomical data to track down Planet Nine, a yet-to-be-discovered body thought to have 10 times the mass of Earth. From the report: Sheppard said he made the discovery of FarFarOut when a lecture he was due to give on his team's work was postponed and he went back to analyzing his data. He said FarFarOut was somewhat mysterious. "It is very faint; it is on the edge of our ability to detect it," Sheppard said. "We don't know anything about the orbit of this object, we just know it is far, far out." Sheppard said further observations were in the offing to shed more light on the find. The current record holder -- a dwarf planet at 120 times the Earth-sun distance -- was named merely FarOut when it was spotted by the same team in December last year.
If the USB people were in charge of naming these, this discovery would've resulted in changing the name of FarOut to FarFarOut mk 1, and this one would've been named FarFarOut mk 2. The next one found further away would be named FarFarOut 2x2 because... I have no idea. Maybe the guy naming these was dropped on his head as a baby and never really recovered?