2018 VG18 (FAROUT)

About:

• The new object has been given the provisional designation 2018 VG18.
  
  
• It is nicknamed “Farout” by the team for its extremely distant location.
  • It is at about 120 astronomical units (AU), where 1 AU is defined as the distance between the Earth and the Sun. This makes it the first Solar System object observed beyond 100 AU.
    
    
  • The second-most-distant observed solar system object is Eris, at about 96 AU. Pluto is currently at about 34 AU, making 2018 VG18 more than three-and-a-half times more distant than Pluto.
    
    
  
  
  
• Its brightness suggests that it is about 500 km in diameter, likely making it spherical in shape and a dwarf planet.
  
  
• The new object has been discovered by a team of scientists from U.S as part of the team’s continuing search for extremely distant solar system objects, including the suspected Planet X, which is sometimes also called Planet 9.