Astronomers have discovered the most distant known object ever identified within our solar system.
The cosmic body, nicknamed “Farout”, is about 120 astronomical units (AU) away from the sun.
The furthest known object until now, the dwarf planet Eris, is 96 AU from the sun.
One AU is equal to the average distance from the Earth to the sun.
Scott Sheppard, of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, said the object is so far away and moving so slowly it could take more than 1,000 years to orbit the sun.
Sheppard’s team discovered the dwarf planet in November using a telescope in Hawaii. They said it is an estimated 500 kilometres (310 miles) across.
Discussing the decision to name the object “Farout”, Sheppard wrote: "I actually uttered ‘farout’ when I first found this object, because I immediately noticed from its slow movement that it must be far out there… It is the slowest moving object I have ever seen and is really out there."
It is believed to be round and its pink shade indicates an ice-rich object.
The discovery came as the astronomers were searching for the hypothetical Planet X, a massive planet believed by some to be orbiting the sun from vast distances, well beyond Pluto.
