Tuesday, October 27, 2026

Animation: Dwarf Planet Candidate in Our Solar System | Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Animation: Dwarf Planet Candidate in Our Solar System | Vera C. Rubin Observatory

An animated model of the Solar System showing the orbital pathway of newly discovered dwarf planet candidate 2026 ED138 (ED138). ED138 was discovered in observational data from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory spanning March 4–July 11, 2026. The rendering begins on May 8, 2026. The time then elapses at a rate of one Earth-year per 30 seconds.

ED138 was found by Rubin Operations team member and in-Kind contributor Matthew Holman (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian). He contributes to improving Rubin's algorithms that search for distant moving objects in our Solar System. Its distance from the Sun places it beyond the orbit of Pluto, and initial analysis indicates that it may be among the largest and brightest bodies scientists have discovered in this region of the Solar System.

Rubin Observatory is jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

Learn more about the new Vera Rubin Observatory:

The LSST Camera (LSSTCam)

An Introduction to Vera Rubin:

Credit: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/R. Proctor
Orbit data provided by the IAU Minor Planet Center (MPCorb catalog), funded by NASA PDCO and the Tamkin Foundation
Star map: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio. Gaia DR2: ESA/Gaia/DPAC
Duration: 50 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 27, 2026

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #SolarSystem #DwarfPlanets #2026ED138 #ED138 #Cosmos #Universe #LSSTCam #SimonyiSurveyTelescope #RubinObservatory #VeraRubin #CerroPachón #Chile #NOIRLab #NSF #DOE #AURA #CfA #UnitedStates #Animation #STEM #Education #HD #Video

No comments:

Post a Comment