A recent study has discovered a distant world that keeps its cool far beyond Neptune. Ammonite, officially designated 2023 KQ14, is a sednoid with an unusually large closest distance to the Sun. Its stable orbit, lasting about 4.5 billion years, makes it a valuable record keeper for the outer solar system’s formation and evolution.
Unlike other sednoids, Ammonite’s path does not align with the existing patterns, adding diversity to the known orbits. This find comes from a targeted search using big telescope time and careful checks of older archival images. The researchers refined 2023 KQ14’s orbit with follow-up observations to ensure accuracy.
A stable orbit like Ammonite’s can preserve early history that other bodies have lost. It acts as a reference mark for testing different formation stories, including the presence of a hypothetical Planet Nine. The object’s unique characteristics weaken the main clue used to argue for Planet Nine and suggest it may be extremely remote or follow a different path.
The discovery expands our understanding of the far frontier. A growing census of detached bodies will refine how the Sun’s neighborhood took shape without a possible Planet Nine. The study, published in Nature Astronomy, sheds new light on the outer solar system’s past and its potential hidden planet.
Source: https://www.earth.com/news/newly-discovered-2023-kq14-dwarf-planet-could-be-the-missing-piece-in-the-solar-system-puzzle