



An international team of astronomers has discovered the furthest object ever detected in the Solar System. Nicknamed “Farout”, it’s a small round object with a pinkish hue located 17.95 billion kilometers (11.15 billion miles) from the Sun. The color is common in ice-rich objects.





Its official designation is 2018 VG18 and it is 500 kilometers (310 miles) in diameter. It's the first object discovered further than 100 astronomical units (AU) from our star, with 1 AU being the Earth-Sun distance. Farout is at a distance of 120 AU, significantly further out than dwarf planet Eris, which is at 96 AU. Pluto, by comparison, is at 34 AU.





The object was discovered in images taken with the Japanese Subaru Telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii on November 10. Follow-up observations to confirm the distance were conducted in December from Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.





“All that we currently know about 2018 VG18 is its extreme distance from the Sun, its approximate diameter, and its color,” co-discoverer David Tholen, from the University of Hawaii, said in a statement. “Because 2018 VG18 is so distant, it orbits very slowly, likely taking more than 1,000 years to take one trip around the Sun.”



