Scientists discover two small worlds outside Neptune’s orbit
Q. Scientists have discovered two small worlds far outside the orbit of which planet?- Published on 25 Jul 16a. Saturn
b. Venus
c. Neptune
d. Pluto
ANSWER: Neptune
Scientists have discovered two small worlds far outside the orbit of Neptune in the most comprehensive survey conducted on distant solar system objects.
- The two objects are located beyond the Kuiper belt which is a region of small icy objects beyond Neptune.
- Pluto is a part of this belt.
- They also have the third and fourth most distant perihelia which means when the object has its closest approach distance to the sun of any known solar system objects.
- Orbital motions of these objects are in resonance with Neptune’s orbit making it somewhat unexpected.
- Orbital paths imply worlds have interacted with Neptune in the past or continue to do so despite massive distance from the ice giant planet.
- This latest discovery is based on observations made with the Subaru Telescope in Hawai'i and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) telescope in Chile.
- The new objects are all under Neptune Mean Motion Resonances i.e the location of their orbits have specific period ratios with respect to that of Neptune.
- One of the new objects foes around the sun once every time Neptune foes around four times while the other new objects go around once every time Neptune goes around three times.
