For fans of newly discovered space objects, July was a truly exciting month. Last week, astronomers described Ammonite, a potential dwarf planet beyond Pluto. Yesterday, astronomers announced the existence of BetelBuddy, a small companion star orbiting Betelgeuse. And now we have another exciting discovery to share.
In a Planetary Science Journal article published earlier this month, astronomers participating in the Large Inclination Distant Object (LiDO) survey reported the discovery of 2020 VN40, a rare distant object that orbits the Sun once for every ten orbits that Neptune makes. Astronomers have classified 2020 VN40 as a trans-Neptunian object, a class of small objects and dwarf planets that orbit the Sun at a greater distance than Neptune. The small object has a special, inclined orbit that puts it in orbital resonance with Neptune in a ratio of 10:1. This means that these two celestial bodies influence each other’s motion, providing a clear, precise ratio of orbital periods.
“This is a big step in understanding the outer solar system,” said Rosemary Pike, lead researcher at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard and the Smithsonian Institutes, in a statement. “This shows that even very distant regions influenced by Neptune can contain objects, and it gives us new clues about how the solar system evolved.”
The discovery of a strange object in the solar system is always a cause for celebration, but 2020 VN40 stands out for several reasons. First, it confirms the idea that Neptune’s gravity can pull distant objects into the inner solar system – something astronomers have documented with other distant objects.
Moreover, 2020 VN40 has a strange, tilted orbit that brings it closer to the Sun when it is closest to Neptune – the opposite of how most similar objects behave. According to the study authors, this tilt is the reason for the observed orbital synchronization between Neptune and 2020 VN40, where the smaller object approaches the Sun once for every ten orbits that Neptune completes. This means that for 2020 VN, one year is equal to 1650 Earth years!
“This new motion is like finding a hidden rhythm in a song we thought we knew,” said study co-author Ruth Murray-Clay, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, “It could change the way we think about how distant objects move. “This could change our understanding of how distant objects move.”
“This is just the beginning,” said Katherine Volk of the Planetary Science Institute. – “We are opening a window into the solar system’s past. “We are opening a new window into the past of the solar system.”
