Oort cloud - we are waiting for the mass of discoveries
Astronomers have discovered an object, like a planet, which orbits the Sun at an incredibly remote distance. This gives reason to believe that we are waiting for Pluto many more discoveries. Until now, the only known object in this remote region of the solar system known as the inner облако Oort , was a dwarf planet Sedna , found that about 10 years ago. In the исследовании, published March 26 in the journal Nature, the scientists tell us about the new facility, which was named 2012 VP113. h5>
Until now, the question remains as 2012 VP113 and Sedna got to the inner Oort cloud. But researchers now believe that such objects can be hundreds of thousands, but they have not yet discovered.
Where is 2012 VP113? B>
When scientists talk about the observed solar system, they are referring to an area that stretches from the Sun to the region beyond Pluto called the Kuiper belt. This zone occupies the area at a distance of 30 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun (the orbit of Neptune) to 55 AU Just beyond the Kuiper belt, a distance of about 70 AU, the inner Oort cloud begins. At larger distances, since about 5000 AU, the Oort cloud becomes a spherical shape and contain comets that encircle orbit around the sun for a period of over 200 years, also known as long-period comets. 2012 VP113 lies in the region between the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud spherical region. The shortest distance that the 2012 VP113 approaches the Sun, it is 80 AU, which further than the more distant Sedna (76 AU). Size 2012 VP113 just over a third of Sedna and estimated to be about 400 km in diameter.
The image above shows the detection of 2012 VP113. Movement 2012 VP113 clearly stands out in comparison with the stationary background of stars and galaxies. Objects in the image moves down.
Chad Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 2012 VP113 found using ground-based telescope in Chile. In an interview with Nature, Trujillo said that they still do not know what it consists of 2012 VP113, but most likely the object is covered with ice, as it is located very far from the sun. Study 2012 VP113 will help scientists better understand how objects fall into the inner Oort cloud.
