Astronomers have discovered beyond the orbit of Neptune previously unknown dwarf planet 2010 JO179, the diameter of which is 900 kilometers. Discovered the dwarf planet moves in an unusually eccentric orbit whose closest to the Sun point is at the distance of about 39 astronomical units from the sun, or 5.8 billion kilometers, and the farthest – at a distance of 117 astronomical units (17.5 billion kilometers).
In the study, researchers examined archival images and data collected by an automated telescope Pan-STARRS 1, which is designed to search for asteroids, comets and other small celestial bodies.
High brightness of the dwarf planet allowed scientists not only to measure its size – about 600-900 kilometers – and to determine its form, calculate the length of a day on it and reveal some features of its surface.
It turned out that 2010 JO179 rotates around its axis slowly enough to dwarf planet – the day it lasts about 30 hours, and one of its sides is darker than the opposite, like Pluto and its bright “heart”, surrounded by dark mountains. In form, this dwarf planet is more like a ball than a ellipse or any other shape of irregular shape.
The most interesting aspect of this planet, as the researchers note, is not its physical properties or dimensions, and its orbit. As shown by their calculations, it is in orbital resonance with Neptune for the time of the 2010 JO179 spends five turns around the Sun, the planet-the giant flies shone exactly 21 times. Accordingly, the year on the dwarf planet takes about 700 years.
The presence of such a link between Neptune and 2010 JO179, according to scientists, may be not a random thing. According to scientists, the orbit of this dwarf planet may contain traces of migration of Neptune in the distant past. Therefore, the search for other planets with similar orbits may help astronomers to understand how did the Earth and other planets of the Solar system, whose formation of the giant planets played a key role.
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