Farfarout' is officially the most distant object in our solar system

This illustration depicts the most distant object yet found in our solar system, nicknamed “Farfarout,” in the lower right. Along the bottom, various solar system objects are plotted according to their distance from the sun, with the planets and closest dwarf planet (Ceres) appearing at the far left and the most distant solar system objects known on the far right. (Image credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva)

And speaking of more observations: The detection team has now collected enough additional data to confirm the existence of Farfarout and nail down its orbit. As a result, the planetoid just received an official designation from the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which identifies, designates and computes orbits for small objects in the solar system.

That designation, announced Wednesday (Feb. 10) in a Minor Planet Center electronic circular, is 2018 AG37. (Farfarout will also receive a catchier official moniker down the road.)

"A single orbit of Farfarout around the sun takes a millennium," discovery team member David Tholen, an astronomer at the University of Hawai'i, said in a university statement. "Because of this long orbital period, it moves very slowly across the sky, requiring several years of observations to precisely determine its trajectory."

This artist’s illustration imagines what the distant object nicknamed “Farfarout” might look like in the outer reaches of our solar system. The most distant object yet discovered in our solar system, Farfarout is 132 astronomical units from the sun, which is 132 times farther from the sun than Earth is.

This artist’s illustration imagines what the distant object nicknamed “Farfarout” might look like in the outer reaches of our solar system. The most distant object yet discovered in our solar system, Farfarout is 132 astronomical units from the sun, which is 132 times farther from the sun than Earth is. (Image credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva) Astronomers spotted Farfarout using the Subaru 8-meter (26.2 feet) telescope on Maunakea in Hawai'i and traced its orbit using the Gemini North and Magellan telescopes.

"Only with the advancements in the last few years of large digital cameras on very large telescopes has it been possible to efficiently discover very distant objects like Farfarout," co-discoverer Scott Sheppard, a solar system small bodies scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science, said in the same university statement.

Farfarout is currently about 132 AU from the sun, the researchers determined. And its orbit is now known to be very elliptical, swinging between extremes of 27 AU and 175 AU, thanks to gravitational sculpting by Neptune.

Interesting OP.