“As if you were finding a hidden rhythm in one song”

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Astronomers have found that a strange room rock on the edge of the solar system is enclosed in a rhythmic dance with Neptune.

The object, marked in 2020 VN40, is part of a family of distant solar system objects, which are referred to as transneptunic objects (TNOS). The first object is discovered 2020 VN40, which once circles the sun for every orbit. In view of the fact that a Neptunic year lasts 164.8 earth years, this means that 2020 VN40 has a damn year that lasts around 1,648 years or 19,776 months on earth!

The team behind this study is of the opinion that the cumbersome orbital dance 2020 could possibly have come about with Neptune when it was temporarily linked by the gravity of the ice gigant planet. Therefore, this discovery could help the researchers to better understand the dynamics of bodies on the edge of the solar system.

“This is a big step to understand the outer solar system,” “Team Leader Rosemary Pike from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian said in an explanation.” It shows that even very distant regions that are influenced by Neptune can contain objects, and we have new indications of how the solar system has developed. “

The orbital rhythm of 2020 VN40 was discovered in data from the Lido survey (Large Neigs distant objects). Lido uses the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope with backup from Gemini Observatory and the Walter Baade telescope to search the outer solar system for strange objects.

In particular, Lido specializes in the hunt for Tnos with orbits, which they bring around the sun far above and below the earth’s orbital level. These are regions of the solar system that have so far only been sparsely examined by astronomers.

“It was fascinating to learn how many small bodies in the solar system exist in these very large, very inclined orbits,” said Samantha Lawler, researcher from Lido Teamme and researcher at the University of Regina.

The highly inclined path from 2020 VN40 finds it at an average distance from the sun, which corresponds to the 140 times the distance between earth and our star.

However, the most interesting element of the orbit of 2020 VN40 is the response with the orbit in Neptune. Other bodies that are rhythmically aligned with Neptune approach the sun, their perihel when Neptune is at the greatest distance from our star or aphid.

22020 VN40 is in Perihelion when Neptune is also close to the sun. This is when you have considered it from above above the solar system, the inclination of 2020 VN40 means that these TNO and Neptune are not actually closely together. The TNO is actually far below the solar system.

This also separates in 2020 VN40 from other resonant Tnos, who tend to stay at the level of the solar system when they follow close approaches to the sun.

“This new movement is like a hidden rhythm to find in a song that we thought we knew.” It could change how we think about how distant objects move. “

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The unveiling of the orbital foreignness of 2020 VN40 indicates that solar system objects with highly inclined orbits can assume new and unexpected types of movement.

The hunting is now for other bodies such as 2020 VN40, with the newly operating Vera C. Rubin Observatory playing a key role in this examination.

“This is only the beginning,” said Kathryn Volk, researcher of the team member and researcher of planetary science. “We open a new window in the past of the solar system.”

The results of 2020 VN40 were published on July 7th in the Planetary Science Journal.