#farfarout

Farfarout

Say hello to the solar systems newest find, nicknamed “farfarout” because .. well, it is rather far out, which sounds a whole lot nicer than 2018 AG37

Currently the object is 132AU away, 1 AU is the average distance between the Sun and the Earth, and to compare, Pluto is just under 40AU and still took New Horizons 9.5 years to reach it from here.

It’s not thought to be particularly big, around 400km in diameter at most, and made up of ice. 

Like many objects out beyond Pluto, it has a rather elongated orbit, coming in as far as Neptune, then heading out to over 150AU. It is thought that Neptune is possibly responsible for the odd orbit and probably will interact with it again at some point in the future.

At the rate astronomers keep discovering these distant objects, we're gonna end up with A LOT of fars in their names!

Nicknamed "FarFarOut", the 2018 AG37 is the farthest known object from the sun in the solar system. It is a trans-Neptunian object, meaning it is a planet or dwarf planet further away than Neptune. It was discovered in January 2018 during a search for the hypothetical 'Planet Nine' but was not confirmed until February 2021 in a press release given by astronomers Scott Sheppard, David Tholen, and Chad Trujillo. The choice of nickname emphasises its distance from the sun, which is around 19 billion km (11.8 billion miles). Until the 2018 AG37's discovery, the first object was the 2018 VG18, which was nicknamed "Farout".

The 2018 AG37 was first spotted on 15th January 2018 using the large 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii. The object was reobserved in March 2019 with the 6.5-meter Magellan-Baade telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. A third and fourth observation was made in May 2019 and January 2020 with the Subaru Telescope. As of 2021, it has been observed nine times.

Move Over ‘Farout,’ Astronomers Confirm ‘Farfarout’ Is the Solar System’s Most Distant Known Object

What astronomers believed to be the most distant object in the Solar System, “Farout,” has lost its title after just two years. That crown now goes to “Farfarout” (zero points for creativity, you guys), a planetoid that is more than 130 times farther from the Sun than Earth is. Read more…

Astronomers confirm the most distant object in the Solar System

The most distant Solar System object, Farout, has lost its crown after just two years. As Inverse reports, astronomers have confirmed that the planetoid Farfarout is now the farthest known Solar System object. It's currently 132AU, or about 12.3…

Het klopt, Farfarout is inderdaad het verst verwijderde object in het zonnestelsel

Impressie van Farfarout. Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva Deze week kwam naar voren dat het object genaamd Farfarout inderdaad het verst verwijderde object in het zonnestelsel is. In januari 2018 werd het object voor het eerst gezien en wel met de Subaru telescoop op de berg Maunakea op Hawaï. FarFarOut (alias 2018 AG37) bevond zich toen op 140 AU van de aarde, da’s bijna 21 miljard km (1…