Post by @coreyspowell@mastodon.social

New dwarf planet just dropped.

For now, it's called 2026 ED138. It appears to be ~1000 kilometers (600 miles) wide. If confirmed, that would make it a dwarf planet about half the size of Pluto.

https://rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-first-dwarf-planet-candidate #space #science #astronomy #nature

This image shows the orbital pathway of newly discovered dwarf planet candidate 2026 ED138 (ED138), as observed by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. This image is a composite of multiple images captured by Rubin between 4 March and 11 July 2026 at intervals indicated by the teal circles. ED138 is visible at the center of each circle.

NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Reveals Its First Dwarf Planet Candidate in Our Solar System | Rubin Observatory

In the outer reaches of our Solar System, beyond the orbit of Pluto, NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory has spotted 2026 ED138 — a large, bright trans-Neptunian object that scientists have identified as a dwarf planet candidate. The observations were announced today by the International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center (MPC). If confirmed, ED138 would be among the largest dwarf planets ever discovered in this region of the Solar System.

#science #space #nature #astronomy

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Thomas Sturm

@tsturm@famichiki.jp 35 min. ago

@coreyspowell @Unixbigot That gives it a surface area of just over 3 million square kilometers or a bit less than half the area of Australia.

It’s incredible how much there is to explore even just in our solar system.

Corey S Powell

@coreyspowell@mastodon.social 5 hr. ago

The new Rubin Observatory is conducting an unprecedented continuous, deep scan of the entire southern sky. It's already found hundreds of new objects beyond Neptune. In the coming years, it will fill in much more of the picture of our outer solar system.

https://rubinobservatory.org/news/11000-new-asteroids #space #science #tech

A model of the Solar System showing the roughly 380 trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) discovered using observations taken during Rubin’s early optimization surveys in Summer 2025. TNOs are icy bodies that orbit beyond Neptune. Within this batch of discoveries are two extreme TNOs whose preliminary orbits place them among the 30 objects with the largest orbits ever discovered.

These are the August 2025 locations of the discovered objects. — A model of the Solar System showing the roughly 380 trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) discovered using observations taken during Rubin’s early optimization surveys in Summer 2025. TNOs are icy bodies that orbit beyond Neptune. Within this batch of discoveries are two extreme TNOs whose preliminary orbits place them among the 30 objects with the largest orbits ever discovered. These are the August 2025 locations of the discovered objects.

Early Data from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Reveals Over 11,000 New Asteroids | Rubin Observatory

Scientists at NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, have submitted an unprecedented set of asteroid detections to the IAU Minor Planet Center, including hundreds of distant worlds beyond Neptune and 33 previously unknown near-Earth asteroids.