NEW YORK – An object has been discovered orbiting the sun far beyond Pluto, calling into question theories about a possible Planet Nine in the solar system.
The object, for now, designated 2023 KQ14 and nicknamed “Ammonite,” was found by astronomers in Japan using its Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. Announced in a paper published today in Nature Astronomy, the object is not a planet but a sednoid. It’s only the fourth sednoid ever discovered.
Ammonite (2023 KQ14): What is A Sednoid?
A sednoid is an object beyond the orbit of Neptune that has a highly eccentric orbit, similar to that of the dwarf planet Sedna, one of the most distant objects in the solar system known to astronomers.
Astronomers use the distance between the Earth and the sun — one astronomical unit or au — to measure distance in the solar system. Sedna gets as close to the sun as about 76 au but as far away as 900 au on its elliptical orbit. 2023 KQ14 gets as close as 66 au from the sun and as far away as 252 au.
The orbit of 2023 KQ14 (in red) compared to the orbits of the other three sednoids (in white).
Ammonite (2023 KQ14) And The ‘Planet Nine’ Hypothesis
There has been a lot of attention among astronomers on Planet Nine in recent months. In May, scientists in Taiwan looking for a ninth planet in the solar system found hints in archive images. In June, a study by Rice University and the Planetary Science Institute put a number on the chances that a ninth planet exists — 40%.
The reason a ninth planet may exist is an unusual clustering of minor bodies in the Kuiper Belt — the outer solar system. Six objects — Sedna, 2012 VP113, 2004 VN112, 2010 GB174, 2013 RF98 and 2007 TG422 — all have highly elongated yet similarly oriented orbits. They appear to have been “herded” by the gravitational influence of a planet.
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