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Ultima Thule

23 December 2018
Astronomy

At http://spaceweather.com (22nd December 2018) as NASAs spacecraft New Horizons approaches Ultima Thule – flying past it on New Year;s Day, a mystery has developed. It seems to have no light curve. Its brightness is constant …

    … it may be that Ultima Thule is surrounded by a cloud of dust that obscures its light curve. We shall have to wait and see as New Horizons gets closer.

At https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-12/cifs-dtm121718.php … discovered, the most distant solar system object yet found – at a distance over 100 times further than the Earth from the Sun. It's a long way away. It is currently known as 2018 VG18. It is situated 120 AU from the Sun. In comparison Pluto is 34 AU. It was discovered during the search for Planet Nine. However, the search is still on as the object is just 500km across.

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