The LA Times adds, however, that it's not that easy to study these objects:

Unlike the distant stars in the night sky, rocks don’t make their own light. So the astronomers have to look for faint, moving glints of reflected sunlight off these distant bodies. That means the sun’s rays have to travel all the way out to this dark, cold interplanetary fringe and then come all the way back to us. The researchers used the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the NOAO 4-meter telescope in Chile and scanned the sky looking for such dim, slow-moving objects. After months of analysis, the scientists picked up on an intriguing signal in the sky.

Scott Sheppard, who worked with Trujillo on the project, explained that 2012 VP 113 “was the slowest moving thing I’d seen in the discovery process, so immediately I knew it was interesting." The further away an object is, the slower it moves, so the object's pace tipped Sheppard off.

According to Nature, VP measures about 280 miles across, and is most likely made of ice. Scientists have some ideas on how objects like VP were formed. Nature explains:

One leading hypothesis proposes that in the Solar System’s infancy, a nearby star gravitationally perturbed the coalescing system and dragged some fragments out towards the edge. Another possibility is that a massive rogue planet passed through at some point, kicking objects from the Kuiper belt outwards into the inner Oort cloud.

The discovery is especially exciting because it could mean the existence of other, larger planetoids in the inner Oort cloud. Shepard explains, "Some of these inner Oort cloud objects could rival the size of Mars or even Earth. This is because many of the inner Oort cloud objects are so distant that even very large ones would be too faint to detect with current technology."

NASA Spacesuit AMA

NASA is upgrading its space-suit look, and has invited the public to vote on which new style it will adopt. According to NASA:

The cover layer of a prototype suit is important as it serves to protect the suit against abrasion and snags during the rigors of testing... The designs were created with the intent to protect the suit and to highlight certain mobility features to aid suit testing. To take it a step further, we are leaving it up you, the public, to choose which of three candidates will be built.

Voters will have until April 15 to select on of three possible Z-2 designs. First, is the "biomimicry" suit, which "mirror[s] the bioluminescent qualities of aquatic creatures found at incredible depths and the scaly skin of fish and reptiles found across the globe."

Next, is the "technology" model, which "pays homage to spacesuit achievements of the past while incorporating subtle elements of the future."

@NASA's looking for a new look for its spacesuits... and you can help pick it! http://t.co/d0QIyRsL4n @wordsofwalsh pic.twitter.com/2z7vIp4uX3 — Michael Sheridan (@NYDNSheridan) March 28, 2014

Finally, the "trend in society," which is supposed to be "reflective of what every day clothes may look like in the not too distant future."

Want to help @NASA design its next generation space suits? You can! http://t.co/9fG9OQ5qrP pic.twitter.com/YsKyNzKB57 — Brian Allen (@BriAlNews) March 26, 2014

Continuing this trend of reaching out to the public, NASA engineers held a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" on Thursday, where they gamely fielded some of Redditors most pressing questions, like "What about puking?" in the suit; "how accurate are spacesuits in modern science fiction movies?" and "how do you think spacesuits will look by the end of the century?"