A group of astronomers using the Japanese Subaru 8-meter telescope, located on the top of the mountain Mauna Kea in Hawaii has discovered an object in the extreme outer portions of the solar system on November 18, 2018.
The astronomers were looking for Planet 9 an elusive large planet theorized to be orbiting in the outer regions of the solar system. The new object has been nicknamed Farout and is estimated to be 120 times farther from the sun than the earth. It is moving so slowly it may take several years to determine its orbit accurately. It is estimated that it may take up to 1000 years to make a single orbit of the sun. Farout is estimated to be between 300 and 400 miles in diameter so it may fall into the category of a minor planet.
If that discovery was not enough, another object even farther out was recently discovered in February of this year by the same team of astronomers and is nicknamed FarFarOut. It is estimated to be 140 times the earth-sun distance. At this time very little is known about it. Farout had remained the farthest object from the sun for only a brief time. Now FarFarOut is the most distant object from the sun in our solar system.
